Congress Talking About Tax-Exempt Hospitals (H.R. 9504) and Sports (H.R. 9137/S. 4668)
There appears to be serious momentum in Congress to address the federal tax rules for two subsets of tax-exempt nonprofits organizations: hospitals; and colleges and universities with sports programs. As always, the question is whether this talk will lead to the actual enactment of legislation.
For hospitals, the big news is that last week the House Ways & Means Committee approved (along party lines) H.R,. 9504, the Tax Exempt Hospital Transparency Act. The bill would enhance the reporting required for section 501(c)(3) tax-exempt hospitals on their Forms 990 by requiring the inclusion of:
(A) a description of how the organization is addressing the needs identified in the most recent community health needs assessment conducted under section 501(r)(3) and a description of any such needs that are not being addressed together with the reasons why such needs are not being addressed,
(B) the audited financial statements of such organization (or, in the case of an organization the financial statements of which are included in a consolidated financial statement with other organizations, such consolidated financial statement),
(C) the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services certification number of the organization (or such other identifying information as the Secretary may require),
(D) the value, at cost, of the financial assistance provided during such taxable year pursuant to the organization’s financial assistance policy (as described in section 501(r)(4)), and
(E) the numbers of completed financial assistance applications received, granted, and denied during the taxable year pursuant to the organization’s financial assistance policy (as described in section 501(r)(4)).
There would be even more reporting required for hospitals that are not critical access or rural emergency hospitals and are either “large” (more than 100 staffed inpatient beds) or “high revenue” (net patient revenue of more than $100 million).
For college and university sports, the current leading bill appears to the bipartisan H.R. 9137 Protect College Sports Act of 2026 (parallel Senate bill S. 4668), which previously appeared in this space. Last week the House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing titled The Growing Business of Sports: Reviewing Federal Tax Policy in the Multibillion-Dollar Industry. In preparation for the hearing, the Joint Committee on Taxation issued a report on Present Law Relating To Selected Sports Industry Tax Issues. The topics it addressed included name, image, and likeness (NIL) collectives, college sports, section 501(c)(6) organizations, and the tax-exempt financing of sports facilities.