Somewhat unexpectedly, the IRS indicated new rulings will come down on several lingering HRA and HSA issues soon.

A Washington briefing by officials just before the Easter weekend indicated that the following issues will be addressed:

• Areas include auto-pay from health plans to HSAs,
• Expanding HRA debit card substantiation, 
• HSA comparability rules for employer contributions,
• HRA carve-outs and rollovers, and
• Carve-outs for drugs that are used for prevention.

The move is unexpected as Washington observers were not expecting such quick movement.

According to Consumer Driven Healthcare Marketing newsletter, no guidance was expected this soon, but the IRS has been swamped with new product questions and needs to clarify several areas where there could be widespread mistakes. 

There has been heavy pressure on the IRS to clarify some rulings that were contradictory in nature.