TIGTA Recommends Undisclosed Stricter Enforcement Procedures of the Employer Shared Responsibility Payment

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On June 10, 2020, The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) issued a heavily redacted report entitled “Improvements Are Needed to Ensure That Employer Shared Responsibility Payments Are Properly Assessed.” See here.

Due to the heavy redactions, the nature of the improvements is not disclosed. However, what was revealed in the report was TIGTA’s concern about the IRS’s failure to assess Employer Shared Responsibility Payments (ESRP) penalties arising out of Internal Revenue Code Section 4980H as originally estimated and that the recommendations were intended to improve enforcement of those penalties.

TIGTA made three recommendations. One of these recommendations pertained to when an employer disagreed with an IRS Letter 226J. The second pertained to when an employer failed to respond or follow up to the notice of assessment. The third pertained to procedures for churches.

The nature of these recommendations is not disclosed due to the heavily redacted report.