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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Small Business Hard-
ship Relief Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. HARDSHIP EXEMPTION TO EMPLOYER HEALTH IN-
SURANCE MANDATE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 4980H of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end 
the following new subsection: 
‘‘(e) HARDSHIP
EXEMPTION
FOR
SMALL
BUSI-
NESSES.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—Subsections (a) and (b) 
shall not apply to any small business for any month 
if such small business is experiencing a hardship 
with respect to the calendar year in which such 
month begins. 
‘‘(2) HARDSHIP.—A small business shall be 
treated for purposes of this subsection as experi-
encing a hardship for any calendar year if such busi-
ness demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Sec-
retary that such business— 
‘‘(A) missed two or more consecutive loan 
payments during such year, 
‘‘(B) is a debtor in a title 11 case (as de-
fined in section 108(d)(2)) the pendency of 
which includes any portion of such year, 
‘‘(C) received a notice from a utility during 
such year that such utility is preparing to stop 
providing services to such business by reason of 
nonpayment of amounts owed for utility service, 
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‘‘(D) received a notice of eviction of fore-
closure during such year, 
‘‘(E) experienced a fire, flood, other nat-
ural or human-caused disaster that resulted in 
substantial damage to property of the business 
during such year, or 
‘‘(F) experiences such other hardship dur-
ing such year as the Secretary may determine 
for purposes of this subsection. 
‘‘(3) LIMITATION
TO
YEARS
OF
EXEMP-
TIONS.—Paragraph (1) shall not apply to any small 
business for any calendar year if such paragraph has 
applied to such small business for any 5 previous 
calendar years. 
‘‘(4) SMALL BUSINESS.—For purposes of this 
subsection— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘small busi-
ness’ means, with respect to any calendar year, 
an employer who employed an average of not 
more than 100 full-time employees on business 
days during the preceding calendar year. 
‘‘(B) APPLICATION
OF
CERTAIN
RULES 
FOR
DETERMINING
EMPLOYER
SIZE; TREAT-
MENT OF FULL-TIME EQUIVALENTS AS FULL- 
TIME EMPLOYEES.—Rules similar to the rules 
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of subparagraphs (C) and (E) of subsection 
(c)(2) shall apply for purposes of this sub-
section.’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 
subsection (a) shall apply to months beginning after the 
date of the enactment of this Act. 
(c) HARDSHIP EXEMPTION NOT TO BE USED AS 
SOLE CRITERIA FOR AUDIT.—Notwithstanding any other 
provision of law, whether the hardship exemption provided 
under section 4980H of the Internal Revenue Code of 
1986 (as added by this section) applies with respect to 
a taxpayer shall not be taken into account by the Internal 
Revenue Service as the sole factor in determining whether 
to audit such taxpayer. 
(d) TREASURY STUDY ON ADDITIONAL INDICATIONS 
OF BUSINESS HARDSHIP.— 
(1) STUDY.—The Secretary of the Treasury 
shall conduct a study regarding the additional hard-
ships which would be appropriate to add to the list 
of hardships in paragraph (2) of section 4980H(e) 
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (as added by 
this section), consistent with the purposes of such 
section. 
(2) DETERMINATION
OF
ADDITIONAL
HARD-
SHIPS.—Not later than 6 months after the date of 
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the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the 
Treasury shall, with respect to any hardship which 
the Secretary determines should be added to such 
list of hardships, add such hardship to such list by 
making the determination described in subparagraph 
(F) of such section. 
(3) REPORT.—Not later than 6 months after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 
of the Treasury shall provide a written report to 
Congress with respect to the study conducted under 
paragraph (1). Such report shall include a descrip-
tion of each hardship considered for inclusion in 
such list of hardships, whether the Secretary made 
the determination to include such hardship in such 
list, and the reasons that such hardship was or was 
not so included, as the case may be. 
(4) REFERENCES
TO
SECRETARY
OF
THE 
TREASURY.—Any reference in this subsection to the 
Secretary of the Treasury shall include a reference 
to any designee of such Secretary. 
Æ 
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