The IRS has issued temporary (TD 9768, Regs. §§301.7705-1T and 301.7705-2) and proposed regulations (REG-127561-15, Proposed Regs. §§31.3511-1, 301.7705-1 and 301.7701-2) that will govern the Certified Professional Employer Organization (CPEO) program that Congress enacted as IRC §7705 at the end of 2014 as part of the ABLE Act of 2014.  The program, which was supposed to begin accepting applicants in the summer of 2015 will actually begin accepting applications on July 1, 2016.

As part of the release of the regulations, the IRS also announced the agency’s intent to release a pair of Revenue Procedures, one outlining the application process to become a PEO and another detailing the ongoing requirements to maintain certification.