New PCORI Fee Amount Released

The IRS just released Notice 2020-44, which contains the updated Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (“PCORI”) fee amount for plan years that end on or after October 1, 2019, and before October 1, 2020.  The updated fee is $2.54 per covered life for plan years ending during this period.

Background

The PCORI fee originally applied to all plan years ending on or after October 1, 2012, and before October 1, 2019.  However, the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 (signed into law on December 20, 2019), extended the PCORI fee for 10 years.  See our previous client alert here.  As extended, the PCORI fee will continue to be imposed through plan years that end before October 1, 2029.

The PCORI fee under Health Care Reform applies on a plan year basis.  The amount of the fee is adjusted annually.  The PCORI fee for plan years that end on or after October 1, 2018 and before October 1, 2019 is $2.45 per covered life.  In addition, the due date to pay the PCORI fee is July 31 of the calendar year immediately following the last day of the plan year.  Thus, the PCORI fee due date for all plan years ending in 2019 is July 31, 2020.

Notice 2020-44

Under Notice 2020-44, the PCORI fee for plan years that end on or after October 1, 2019, and before October 1, 2020 is $2.54 per covered life.  The due date to pay the increased PCORI fee for plan years ending October 31, 2019, November 30, 2019, and December 31, 2019 is July 31, 2020.

Health insurers and plan sponsors can continue to use the same methods that they used before to calculate the number of covered lives for purposes of calculating the PCORI fee.

If you have any questions, please contact the authors or a Miller Johnson employee benefits attorney listed to the left.