Treasury and HHS Release Guidance on State Waivers Under Affordable Care Act

Treasury and HHS Release Guidance on State Waivers Under Affordable Care Act: Treasury and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released guidance relating to section 1332 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), which permits Treasury and HHS to approve a state’s proposal to waive specific provisions of the PPACA if certain requirements are met. This guidance supersedes the previous section 1332 guidance published in December 2015 and provides supplementary information about the requirements that must be met for the approval of a state waiver, the application review procedures, the calculation of pass-through funding, certain analytical requirements, and operational considerations.

OECD and World Bank Release Report on Cooperation Between Tax and Anti-Corruption Authorities: The OECD and World Bank released a report titled Improving Co-operation between Tax Authorities and Anti-Corruption Authorities in Combating Tax Crime and Corruption. The report focuses on the legal, strategic, operational, and cultural aspects of cooperation between tax authorities and anti-corruption authorities and calls on countries to enhance cooperation by expanding information sharing and joint operations.

TIGTA Releases Report on Taxpayer Protection Program: The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) released a report titled The Taxpayer Protection Program Includes Processes and Procedures That Are Generally Effective in Reducing Taxpayer Burden. The Taxpayer Protection Program is intended to identify and prevent the processing of identity theft tax returns in a proactive manner and assist taxpayers whose identities are used to file such returns. The report concludes that, although the program had a 65% false positive rate, the processes implemented by the program generally were effective in reducing the burden for taxpayers whose returns were identified as potential identity theft.