The impact of the Affordable Care Act on fire service volunteers, has been a vital fire service issue, which had the potential to impact the majority of departments in Washington state. The Washington Fire Chiefs have been in contact with the IRS to ensure we can provide you with the most up to date information available.
Yesterday the US Treasury Department released the new guiding documents giving fire service volunteers a clear exemption from the Affordable Care Act. Please see the links to the source documents, and the pertinent excerpts included below.
The Washington Fire Chiefs will be inviting an expert to our WFC Board Meeting & County Presidents Forum which will be held in Sequim, WA on April 1, 2014. We would like to encourage you to email us any questions you might have on this issue, so that we might address them with our expert. Please email those questions to
wfc@washingtonfirechiefs.org.
The US Treasury Department Fact Sheet specifies:
"Various Employee Categories
- The final regulations provide clarifications - many of which are based on
comments on the proposed regulations - regarding whether employees of certain types or in certain occupations are considered full-time, including:
- Volunteers: Hours contributed by bona fide volunteers for a government or tax-exempt entity, such as volunteer firefighters and emergency responders, will not cause them to be considered full-time employees."
The Federal Register Rules and Regulations now reads:
"1. Volunteer Employees: Commenters requested that hours of service performed in the capacity of a volunteer for a government entity or tax- exempt organization not be counted as hours of service for purposes of section 4980H. Under the definition of hour of service outlined in these regulations, an hour of service is generally defined as an hour for which an employee is paid or entitled to payment. Accordingly, hours worked by a volunteer who does not receive (and is not entitled to receive) compensation in exchange for the performance of services are not treated as hours of service for purposes of section 4980H.
Commenters noted, however, that some volunteers receive compensation in the form of expense reimbursements, stipends, contributions to employee benefit plans, or nominal wages. Local governments, for instance, noted that many volunteer firefighters or other emergency responders are paid a salary or an hourly wage, generally at a rate lower than the rate paid to non- volunteers performing services in a similar capacity. Other volunteer firefighters or emergency responders may receive expense reimbursements or other fees each time they respond to a call. Commenters generally expressed concern that volunteer service would be discouraged if volunteer hours were required to be counted when determining whether the individual is a full-time employee for purposes of section 4980H.
In response to these concerns, the final regulations provide that hours of service do not include hours worked as a ''bona fide volunteer.'' For this purpose, the definition of ''bona fide volunteer'' is generally based on the definition of that term for purposes of section 457(e)(11)(B)(i), which provides special rules for length of service awards offered to certain volunteer firefighters and emergency medical providers under a municipal deferred compensation plan. For purposes of section 4980H, however, bona fide volunteers are not limited to volunteer firefighters and emergency medical providers. Rather, bona fide volunteers include any volunteer who is an employee of a government entity or an organization described in section 501(c) that is exempt from taxation under section 501(a) whose only compensation from that entity or organization is in the form of (i) reimbursement for (or reasonable allowance for) reasonable expenses incurred in the performance of services by volunteers, or (ii) reasonable benefits (including length of service awards), and nominal fees, customarily paid by similar entities in connection with the performance of services by volunteers."