President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (the Act) on March 11, 2021. The Act provides COBRA premium subsidies, increases the tax-exclusion amount for employer-sponsored dependent care assistance programs and expands who may be eligible to receive premium tax credits for marketplace coverage. This alert explains how these provisions may impact your welfare benefit plans. Please contact your Dykema benefits attorney to explore the new provisions in greater depth ...
Through data analysis, hospitals can track denials, improve appeals success rates and recoup revenue losses that threaten their very survival. Early last year, when Modern Healthcare reported that a deluge of reimbursement claim denials had driven U.S. hospitals toward a “crisis point,” it highlighted an alarming market imbalance between payers and providers ...
An increasing number of captives have been looking at writing business interruption coverage for their owners. They should tread carefully, as doing so without following the correct procedures could have adverse tax implications. The outbreak of COVID-19 has caught many businesses off guard and in need of cash. Some hope their business interruption insurance policies will provide coverage for a loss of income suffered from a slowdown or suspension of operations ...
The turbulent nature of recent years, not least the impact of the global pandemic, stock market volatility, the rising cost of living and rising inflation, has left no sector of the economy untouched, and so it is for wealth management ...
The Bush Administration and House leaders Democrat Nancy Pelosi and Republican John Boehner reached an agreement on January 24, 2008 regarding a stimulus package. This stimulus package includes tax relief targeted at both businesses and individuals. As discussed below, the Senate may well have additional individual and business provisions before legislation is passed ...
On October 15th 2013 the New Hotel and Restaurant (Taxation) Ordinance 2013 came into effect. This ordinance amends the former Hotel and Restaurant (Taxation) Ordinance which was into effect prior to October 15th.There are a wide range of new provisions which clients should be aware of ...
What is BEPS?Much has been said in both professional and commercial circles on the imminent introduction in Hong Kong of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) regime for the automatic exchange of tax information between participating jurisdictions. There is, however, a much lesser awareness of the commitments undertaken by the Government to the new Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) standard to combat base erosion and profits shifting (BEPS) ...
It is quite common in Hong Kong for employers to arrange an employee's employment by using dual contracts to take advantage of the tax position. Under Hong Kong law, only income derived from Hong Kong is taxable and earnings under a foreign employment contract with non-Hong Kong entity in respect of duties carried out outside Hong Kong are not taxable. However, the benefits under this arrangement may reduce following a recent UK guideline ...
Following the amendments to the Inland Revenue Ordinance earlier this year, the Inland Revenue Department ("IRD") issued its Departmental Interpretation and Practice Notes ("DIPN") No. 43 on 6 September 2006. Whilst the Inland Revenue Ordinance ("IRO") laid down the legal foundation in respect of the Hong Kong profits tax exemption for unauthorised funds, DIPN 43 provides some practical guidance on the application of the exemption ...
Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China which is governed by the Basic Law which forms a mini constitution for Hong Kong. Under the Basic Law, Hong Kong enjoys a high degree of autonomy except in relation to matters such as defence or foreign affairs. It has its own executive, legislative and independent judicial power including that of final adjudication ...
On 2 November 2005, the Legislative Council enacted the Revenue (Abolition of Estate Duty) Ordinance ("RAEDO"). It came into operation on 11 February 2006. RAEDO, among other things: (i) abolishes estate duty as proposed in the 2005 - 2006 Budget; and (ii) empowers the Secretary for Home Affairs ("SHA") to release money from bank accounts of deceased persons and allow inspection of bank safe deposit boxes ...
The Government of Hong Kong gazetted the Inland Revenue (Amendment) (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021 (the “Bill”) on 19 March which, among other things, seeks to amend the Inland Revenue Ordinance (“IRO”) to expand and clarify the scope of profits tax deductions for foreign taxes ...
With the Universal Community Testing Programme for COVID-19 detection by the Hong Kong Government and temperature screening in the workplace, the collection and use of biometric data (such as DNA samples, fingerprints and facial images) have raised concerns among the public. In August 2020, the Privacy Commissioner (PC) has updated its guidance note on how data users should collect and use biometric data in compliance with the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (Guidance Note) ...
Introduction and summary As part of a longstanding Government policy to attract private equity (“PE”) and investment fund operations to Hong Kong, the Inland Revenue (Amendment) (Tax Concessions for Carried Interest) Bill 2021 (the “Bill”) was gazetted on 29 January of this year ...
On 15 April 2016, the Minister of Mineral Resources published the draft Reviewed Broad Based Black-Economic Empowerment Charter for the South African Mining and Minerals Industry 2016 (“the draft reviewed Mining Charter”) for public comment, addressing among other issues, the targets to be met by the mining industry in respect of the housing and living conditions of mine workers ...
On July 5, 2011, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published a proposed rule in the Federal Register that would make a number of changes to the Medicare program’s home health prospective payment system for calendar year 2012.Most significantly, the proposed rule would reduce Medicare payments to home health agencies by 3.35% or approximately $640 million in 2012. The reduction reflects the combined effects of (i) a home health market basket update of 2 ...
American Bar Association Section of Taxation - May Meeting This paper summarizes the HIPAA privacy regulations as modified by the March 27, 2002 proposed modifications. It particularly looks at the responsibilities of a group health plan and its plan sponsor under the regulations ...
Approaching Compliance with Privacy Regulations Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, including Final Modifications In 1996, Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”). In 2000, the Department of Health and Human Services issued final regulations under HIPAA establishing privacy standards for certain individually identifiable health information ...
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has begun the pilot phase of HIPAA privacy and security audits of health care providers, health insurers and health care clearinghouses (“covered entities”) to assess HIPAA compliance efforts. Up to 150 covered entities will be subject to the initial audits, to be conducted by KPMG, LLP, the OCR audit contractor ...
With the passing of April 14, 2003, large health plans (those with more than $5,000,000 in annual receipts) became subject to the privacy regulations issued under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). However, more HIPAA deadlines loom on the horizon ...
Healthcare providers and other HIPAA covered entities have until Wednesday, February 29, 2012 to submit notice of breaches of unsecured Protected Health Information which affected fewer than 500 individuals during 2011. Notice must be submitted electronically to the Secretary of Health & Human Services, and separate forms are required for each data breach occurring in the course of the calendar year ...
October 6, 2021 By: Jennifer Guerrero While a remote work environment can provide many benefits to all of the parties involved, it also can present significant challenges for organizations that need to remain Healthcare Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) compliant ...
The Impact of Business Associate Rules Under the Final Privacy and Security Standards Presented at: Negotiating Technology Outsourcing Agreements Law Seminars International Seattle, Washington Introduction The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, more commonly known as HIPAA, has brought many changes to the health care field, as well as our day-to-day lives ...
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) further codified the shift to a value-based care model with the first major overhaul of both the Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute since they were first introduced three decades ago. Earlier this week, the White House completed the final review of the changes, and on Friday, Nov ...
