CAB and Gilardi lead cost-effective approach to obtain FICA refunds for medical residents, employers

Charles A. Barragato & Co. LLP ("CAB") and Gilardi & Co. ("Gilardi"), the nation's preeminent claims administrator, are leading the efforts in the New York Metropolitan region to assist prominent medical centers as they seek to obtain FICA refunds for medical residents and themselves as employers. After a long-simmering IRS decision process, in March of this year the IRS finally granted approval for medical residents to be considered "students" for purposes of the FICA tax exemption provided in the tax code. To the extent medical centers have kept their tax years open under the statute of limitations, CAB and Gilardi are now facilitating the medical centers' communication with their former medical residents as they file the forms necessary to obtain FICA refunds from the IRS.  

"Our clients were looking for a cost-effective approach to obtaining these refunds, and CAB was the answer," says Angelo Pirozzi, partner-in-charge of the healthcare practice at CAB. Moreover, "to minimize fees for our clients, we reached out to a world-class claims administrator, Gilardi & Co." Daniel R. Burke, Gilardi's General Counsel, adds "our medical center clients like our turn-key solution, meaning from initial consent communications and web site FAQ's to, quite literally, issuing refund checks and all corrected wage and tax statements. Our client's efforts, therefore, will be minimized and of course at very fee-efficient levels, which clients appreciate."

"I am extremely pleased with the efforts of CAB and Gilardi. Their approach to assisting us in processing thousands of claims has been an enormous cost- and time-saver for our organization," adds Laurence A. Kraemer, Vice-President - Legal Affairs for the North-Shore-LIJ Health System.