Texas Comptroller Huffines Invites Public Comment on Ending the Medical Records Tax: Electronic Records Fees Would No Longer Face Sales Tax
AUSTIN, Travis County, Texas — Texas Comptroller Don Huffines on October 28 called on Texans to submit comments on his plan to end the tax on medical records; the proposed rule change will be published this week in the Texas Register to open a public comment period.
Under current rules, Texas charges sales tax on fees that doctors and hospitals pay to access online medical records. Huffines' proposed change would clarify that charges for electronic health record systems, electronic medical record systems and patient portals are neither taxable information services nor taxable data processing services, ending the tax on those fees. The Comptroller's office said rules adopted under prior leadership had swept the technology used to store and share medical records into the tax base.
Huffines signed an executive order on October 6 to initiate the rule change. "This rule change is about restoring fairness, and the public's perspective is essential," he said. Once the comment period opens, residents may submit comments through the published channels, and the Comptroller's office will decide the final rule after reviewing them.
Source: GSM · USA
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 配图为哈菲恩斯本人照片，盖奇·斯基德莫尔摄，CC BY-SA 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。Photo of Don Huffines by Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
