republic-os/legal/us/code/title-26/chapter-43/section-4980e.md

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LegalText	26 U.S.C. § 4980E	Failure of employer to make comparable Archer MSA contributions	us	united_states_code	code_section	26	INTERNAL REVENUE CODE	43	QUALIFIED PENSION, ETC., PLANS	4980E	26 U.S.C. § 4980E	current	119-100	2026-06-26	official	https://uscode.house.gov/download/releasepoints/us/pl/119/100/xml_usc26@119-100.zip	/us/usc/t26/s4980E	data/legal/raw/us/code/title-26/usc26.xml	f92c01d141855c288ef866a58081dbbf2ff93b27487ed86a9a4d255f349b5390	a261f094809116f42a96648a3d5eee80fa010379d67412551c21dd5c900b27f4	056f42ec8ec77409ffb8d6659810b0e93c6d50f7dd73ad1f7cc7c383795e85fc	2026-07-04	official	legal us-code

26 U.S.C. § 4980E - Failure of employer to make comparable Archer MSA contributions

Text

(a) General rule In the case of an employer who makes a contribution to the Archer MSA of any employee with respect to coverage under a high deductible health plan of the employer during a calendar year, there is hereby imposed a tax on the failure of such employer to meet the requirements of subsection (d) for such calendar year.

(b) Amount of tax The amount of the tax imposed by subsection (a) on any failure for any calendar year is the amount equal to 35 percent of the aggregate amount contributed by the employer to Archer MSAs of employees for taxable years of such employees ending with or within such calendar year.

(c) Waiver by Secretary In the case of a failure which is due to reasonable cause and not to willful neglect, the Secretary may waive part or all of the tax imposed by subsection (a) to the extent that the payment of such tax would be excessive relative to the failure involved.

(d) Employer required to make comparable MSA contributions for all participating employees (1) In general An employer meets the requirements of this subsection for any calendar year if the employer makes available comparable contributions to the Archer MSAs of all comparable participating employees for each coverage period during such calendar year.

(2) Comparable contributions (A) In general For purposes of paragraph (1), the term “comparable contributions” means contributions—

(i) which are the same amount, or

(ii) which are the same percentage of the annual deductible limit under the high deductible health plan covering the employees.

(B) Part-year employees In the case of an employee who is employed by the employer for only a portion of the calendar year, a contribution to the Archer MSA of such employee shall be treated as comparable if it is an amount which bears the same ratio to the comparable amount (determined without regard to this subparagraph) as such portion bears to the entire calendar year.

(3) Comparable participating employees For purposes of paragraph (1), the term “comparable participating employees” means all employees—

(A) who are eligible individuals covered under any high deductible health plan of the employer, and

(B) who have the same category of coverage.

For purposes of subparagraph (B), the categories of coverage are self-only and family coverage.

(4) Part-time employees (A) In general Paragraph (3) shall be applied separately with respect to part-time employees and other employees.

(B) Part-time employee For purposes of subparagraph (A), the term “part-time employee” means any employee who is customarily employed for fewer than 30 hours per week.

(e) Controlled groups For purposes of this section, all persons treated as a single employer under subsection (b), (c), (m), or (o) of section 414 shall be treated as 1 employer.

(f) Definitions Terms used in this section which are also used in section 220 have the respective meanings given such terms in section 220.

(Added Pub. L. 104–191, title III, § 301(c)(4)(A), Aug. 21, 1996, 110 Stat. 2049; amended Pub. L. 106–554, § 1(a)(7) [title II, § 202(a)(8), (b)(2)(D)], Dec. 21, 2000, 114 Stat. 2763, 2763A–629; Pub. L. 107–147, title IV, § 417(17)(A), Mar. 9, 2002, 116 Stat. 56.)

Notes

Editorial Notes

Amendments2002—Pub. L. 107–147 substituted “Archer MSA contributions” for “medical savings account contributions” in section catchline. 2000—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 106–554, § 1(a)(7) [title II, § 202(a)(8)], substituted “Archer MSA” for “medical savings account”. Subsecs. (b), (d)(1). Pub. L. 106–554, § 1(a)(7) [title II, § 202(b)(2)(D)], substituted “Archer MSAs” for “medical savings accounts”. Subsec. (d)(2)(B). Pub. L. 106–554, § 1(a)(7) [title II, § 202(a)(8)], substituted “Archer MSA” for “medical savings account”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective DateSection applicable to taxable years beginning after Dec. 31, 1996, see section 301(j) of Pub. L. 104–191, set out as an Effective Date of 1996 Amendment note under section 62 of this title.