| 词条 | Inventory Information Approval System |
| 释义 |
The Inventory Information Approval System, or IIAS, is a point-of-sale technology used by retailers that accept FSA debit cards, which are issued for use with medical flexible spending accounts (FSAs), health reimbursement accounts (HRAs), and some health savings accounts (HSAs) in the United States. By the end of 2007, all grocery stores, discount stores, and online pharmacies that accept FSA debit cards must have an IIAS; by the end of 2008, most pharmacies have an IIAS as well. The predecessor to the current IIAS was developed by the online retailer drugstore.com for its "FSA store" in 2005; it was first introduced to brick-and-mortar retailing by Walgreens in 2006. Wal-Mart became the first discounter with an IIAS in late 2006. How IIAS worksIIAS is similar to the system used by grocery stores ever since they introduced the first barcode scanners in the 1970s to separate items eligible for purchase under the Food Stamp Program from those that are not eligible. Every item in the grocery store's database is flagged "yes" or "no" for food-stamp eligibility; the scanner automatically keeps a separate total for food-stamp items. In the beginning, the cashier pressed a special "food-stamp total" key, and the customer presented paper food stamps; today, the customer swipes an Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card and selects the "food stamp" account, and the register charges only the food-stamp total to the EBT card. The remaining balance must be paid for by other means. IIAS works in much the same way, but with medical FSAs, HRAs, or HSAs instead of food stamps: (Usually, the term "FSA" is used to cover all of them; HRAs, HSAs, and non-medical FSAs are relatively rare, and HSAs can also have regular debit cards though many of them have FSA debit cards instead.)
IIAS does have one additional requirement that is not normally found with food stamps, though the U.S. Department of Agriculture can audit retailers directly for similar purposes: Beginning January 1, 2007, the merchant must make a record of each transaction available to the employer, or more commonly, to the employer's FSA or HRA provider. This can be done contemporaneously with the transaction, or it may be provided later if the Internal Revenue Service ever audits the employer. The terminology used by the IRS in its descriptions of IIAS may seem unusual at first. This stems from the history of IIAS, as it was first developed by an online retailer (drugstore.com) and only later adapted to brick-and-mortar retailing. For example, IIAS is described by the IRS as an "inventory control" system tied to SKUs; but it's generally easier to understand as it was implemented by Walgreens and Wal-Mart, i.e., as a point-of-sale system tied to UPCs. IRS requirements to use IIASThough IIAS was first used in 2005, it was not officially approved by the Internal Revenue Service until July 2006, in IRS Notice 2006–69. At the same time, the IRS decided to crack down on FSA/HRA providers that were not following prior IRS guidance on FSA debit cards. As part of this, the IRS decided that grocery and discount stores would not be allowed to accept FSA debit cards unless they installed an IIAS; they decided it would be too easy to misuse the cards if they could be used at grocers and discounters for anything they sold, even if the grocer or discounter also had a pharmacy. However, they permitted stand-alone chain or independent pharmacies (known as "true pharmacies") to accept the card without an IIAS. Grocers and discounters immediately challenged the IRS ruling, claiming that their pharmacies were being discriminated against, and that since most "true pharmacies" sold ineligible goods as well, the risk from them was just as great. Therefore, two changes were made by IRS Ruling 2007–02 in December 2006:
Most major pharmacy chains report that 60–65% of their sales come from the pharmacy; therefore, OTC would have to account for 25–30% of their total sales for them to qualify, which is unlikely—especially since each individual pharmacy must qualify separately. Therefore, only independent pharmacies are likely to qualify for the exemption. Because of this ruling, by 2009 most grocers, discounters, and chain or Internet pharmacies in the U.S. must have an IIAS in place in order to accept FSA debit cards. Importance of IIASIn addition to the above IRS requirements, IIAS is important in promoting the use of tax-favored health accounts, especially FSAs (which are usually set up by employees), for these reasons:
Since IIAS eliminates many of the roadblocks that previously existed for use of medical FSAs at retailers (especially for OTC items), it is hoped that it will lead to increased enrollment in medical FSAs. References
3 : Debit cards|Retailing|E-commerce |
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