I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5651 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide an exemption 

to the employer health insurance mandate for small businesses which 

are experiencing hardship. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014 

Mr. RUIZ introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide 

an exemption to the employer health insurance mandate 

for small businesses which are experiencing hardship. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Small Business Hard5 ship Relief Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. HARDSHIP EXEMPTION TO EMPLOYER HEALTH IN2 SURANCE MANDATE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 4980H of the Internal 

4 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end 

5 the following new subsection: 

6 ‘‘(e) HARDSHIP EXEMPTION FOR SMALL BUSI7 NESSES.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subsections (a) and (b) 

9 shall not apply to any small business for any month 

10 if such small business is experiencing a hardship 

11 with respect to the calendar year in which such 

12 month begins. 

13 ‘‘(2) HARDSHIP.—A small business shall be 

14 treated for purposes of this subsection as experi15 encing a hardship for any calendar year if such busi16 ness demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Sec17 retary that such business— 

18 ‘‘(A) missed two or more consecutive loan 

19 payments during such year, 

20 ‘‘(B) is a debtor in a title 11 case (as de21 fined in section 108(d)(2)) the pendency of 

22 which includes any portion of such year, 

23 ‘‘(C) received a notice from a utility during 

24 such year that such utility is preparing to stop 

25 providing services to such business by reason of 

26 nonpayment of amounts owed for utility service, 


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1 ‘‘(D) received a notice of eviction of fore2 closure during such year, 

3 ‘‘(E) experienced a fire, flood, other nat4 ural or human-caused disaster that resulted in 

5 substantial damage to property of the business 

6 during such year, or 

7 ‘‘(F) experiences such other hardship dur8 ing such year as the Secretary may determine 

9 for purposes of this subsection. 

10 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION TO 5 YEARS OF EXEMP11 TIONS.—Paragraph (1) shall not apply to any small 

12 business for any calendar year if such paragraph has 

13 applied to such small business for any 5 previous 

14 calendar years. 

15 ‘‘(4) SMALL BUSINESS.—For purposes of this 

16 subsection— 

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘small busi18 ness’ means, with respect to any calendar year, 

19 an employer who employed an average of not 

20 more than 100 full-time employees on business 

21 days during the preceding calendar year. 

22 ‘‘(B) APPLICATION OF CERTAIN RULES

23 FOR DETERMINING EMPLOYER SIZE; TREAT24 MENT OF FULL-TIME EQUIVALENTS AS FULL25 TIME EMPLOYEES.—Rules similar to the rules 


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1 of subparagraphs (C) and (E) of subsection 

2 (c)(2) shall apply for purposes of this sub3 section.’’. 

4 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

5 subsection (a) shall apply to months beginning after the 

6 date of the enactment of this Act. 

7 (c) HARDSHIP EXEMPTION NOT TO BE USED AS

8 SOLE CRITERIA FOR AUDIT.—Notwithstanding any other 

9 provision of law, whether the hardship exemption provided 

10 under section 4980H of the Internal Revenue Code of 

11 1986 (as added by this section) applies with respect to 

12 a taxpayer shall not be taken into account by the Internal 

13 Revenue Service as the sole factor in determining whether 

14 to audit such taxpayer. 

15 (d) TREASURY STUDY ON ADDITIONAL INDICATIONS

16 OF BUSINESS HARDSHIP.— 

17 (1) STUDY.—The Secretary of the Treasury 

18 shall conduct a study regarding the additional hard19 ships which would be appropriate to add to the list 

20 of hardships in paragraph (2) of section 4980H(e) 

21 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (as added by 

22 this section), consistent with the purposes of such 

23 section. 

24 (2) DETERMINATION OF ADDITIONAL HARD25 SHIPS.—Not later than 6 months after the date of 


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1 the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the 

2 Treasury shall, with respect to any hardship which 

3 the Secretary determines should be added to such 

4 list of hardships, add such hardship to such list by 

5 making the determination described in subparagraph 

6 (F) of such section. 

7 (3) REPORT.—Not later than 6 months after 

8 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

9 of the Treasury shall provide a written report to 

10 Congress with respect to the study conducted under 

11 paragraph (1). Such report shall include a descrip12 tion of each hardship considered for inclusion in 

13 such list of hardships, whether the Secretary made 

14 the determination to include such hardship in such 

15 list, and the reasons that such hardship was or was 

16 not so included, as the case may be. 

17 (4) REFERENCES TO SECRETARY OF THE

18 TREASURY.—Any reference in this subsection to the 

19 Secretary of the Treasury shall include a reference 

20 to any designee of such Secretary. 

Æ 


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