In keeping with recent tendencies to release bombshell guidance just before major holidays, the Treasury Department announced late on July 2 that it is delaying the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s employer “shared responsibility” (i.e., “play or pay” mandate) penalties and related employer and insurer reporting obligations until 2015. The delay effectively postpones the employer mandate for a year.

“These payments (the employer shared responsibility penalties) will not apply for 2014,” wrote Mark J. Mazur, Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy at the Treasury Department, in a letter posted late today on the Department’s website. “Any employer shared responsibility payments will not apply until 2015.”