To bring everyone up to speed, the IRS is now working on regulations regarding Shared Responsibility for Employers Regarding Health

Coverage. The Federal Register of 2 January 2013, on page 225, specifically addresses Adjunct faculty members, and states that that "[t]he Treasury Department and the IRS are continuing to consider, and invite further comment on, how best to determine the full-time status of [Adjunct faculty members]. This impacts our health insurance coverage. What needs to happen: 1. We all should read the Federal Register posting, particularly on Page 225 <http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-01-02/pdf/2012-31269.pdf>.

2.

There need to be comments submitted from the Adjunct community. Deadline for comments (paper or electronic) is 18 March 2013. Being both an Adjunct faculty member and a former IRS attorney, I am now mentally pondering possibilities for written commentary [N.B. Yesterday (Monday) I submitted some written commentary on another IRS Proposed Regulation on a totally unrelated tax topic in which I have some expertise.].

3.

There will be a public hearing on 23 April 2013 in the IRS Headquarters auditorium. There should be some oral testimony from the Adjunct community. I am seriously considering giving testimony. If you wish to speak, you must submit written comments (see above), and also an outline of your planned testimony must be submitted by 3 April 2013 (it's easier to submit it all together on or before 18 March). [When I gave testimony at one of the rulemaking hearings a few years ago, my outline was a simple one-page affair.]. If you intend to speak, you should familiarize yourself with Treasury Regulation 601.601 in general, and 601.601(a)(3)(ii) in particular. You will be given 10 minutes to speak; there is a clock on the podium and the 10 minute limitation is enforced (unless there are only a few speakers and lots of time left before lunch, in which case they will SOMETIMES let you go into overtime).

4.

It is a public hearing and anyone may attend, but you need to give the IRS at least 24 hours' notice (preferably more) so that your name can be placed on the list of attendees. When you arrive at IRS Headquarters (1111 Constitution Avenue), you will be detained in the waiting area until just before the hearing, and then escorted upstairs to the auditorium. You will, of course, need to show a photo identification. It certainly could not hurt our cause to have some decorously-behaved Adjuncts in the audience.

5.

Whether you do or do not submit comments or give oral testimony, it is now more important than ever for as many Adjuncts as possible to keep logs of the time they spend outside of the

classroom on Adjuncting. This should be obvious if you read the Proposed Regs as noted above. You should keep a contemporaneous log of dates and times whenever you do anything. [Today, I began my own log as I began to work on my Syllabus for the 2013 Semester. I use an Excel spreadsheet.]. Do not pad it and do not fudge it! Keep an honest and reasonably accurate contemporaneous log. [If truth be told, I myself have not been as diligent in this regard in recent semesters. But now it is important because we need to be able to document our hours in order to make a case for whether we qualify for health insurance from our employer. This is an ideal time to start a new habit in this regard.]. Your input can make a difference. I can show you a final Treasury Regulation whose differences from the proposed version reflect some of my testimony and written commentary. If my own expertise and experience in commenting and testifying in the IRS rulemaking process can be of help to you, then certainly shoot out an e-mail to me. Kenneth H. Ryesky, Esq. khresq@sprintmail.com Adjunct Assistant Professor Department of Accounting & Information Systems Queens College CUNY