Do You Know What “PCORI” Is?

Well, you had better. It is the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, and it is a new fee under the Affordable Care Act.

And it is a nit-picking little fee filed on IRS Form 720 for any employer with a self-funded plan. Form 720 is a 6-page form that was originally intended to be an excise tax on gasoline and other gasoline type products. It is filed quarterly, but for PCORI it is filed annually in the second quarter.

You need to count up the number of covered persons (including dependents), and if your plan year ended on or before 10/1/13 you owe $1.00 per person, and $2.00 per person for years ending on or before 10/1/14. However, a plan ending March 31, 2015 does not have to file until July 2016. Yes, 16 months later. And the definition in the official instructions does not easily interpret this. We had to get it in writing from the insurance company.

REALLY !

Would anyone like to measure the amount of time it takes to complete the form, write the check and mail it? Add to that the amount of time the government needs to process the Form and deposit the check and store the paper. This in business parlance is known as a LOSE/LOSE situation, and it could only be created by a combination of a know-nothing politician and a bureaucrat looking to provide job security by creating busy work.

Now, what is the Research Institute, what does it do, and what is it hoping to accomplish?

I do not know, but I will bet it is just keeping more bureaucrats busy.

Howard Lipset, CPA
Progressive Management, Inc.
(516) 883-2962
lipset@progressivemanage.com