How to Close a NEMT Business in 2027: Medicaid, Brokers, NPI, Taxes, and Records

Closing a NEMT company takes longer than parking the vans. Payment for your last month of trips can arrive months after your last ride, and only if your Medicaid enrollment, your NPI, and your bank account are still in place when the claims are paid. Close in the right order and the money keeps coming in while every account shuts down behind it.

If someone might buy the company, read how to sell a NEMT business first. A buyer may pay for your vans, drivers, and contracts, and a sale has its own Medicaid steps.

Check for open problems before you pick a date

Quitting does not end an audit. Before you set a last day, look for anything that is still open:

• Audits and payment holds. Ohio can refuse a voluntary termination from a provider already facing involuntary termination (OAC 5160-1-17.6). States must tell HHS OIG when a provider withdraws to avoid a formal sanction (42 CFR 1002.4), and OIG can exclude a provider for it (42 CFR 1001.601). Medicaid provider termination explains how that follows you.
• Money you owe back. An overpayment you have found still has to be reported and returned. See the 60-day overpayment rule.
• Broker penalties. Brokers can offset damages against your last payments, so settle disputes early.

If any of these is open, talk to a health care attorney before you send a single notice.

Who to notify, and how much notice to give

Each notice has its own clock. Start with written notice to each broker and your state Medicaid program: MTM Health’s standard agreement and Ohio’s rule both ask for 30 days, and other contracts set their own. Then work down this list.

Who	What to send or file	When
MTM Health (standard agreement)	Written notice to end for convenience	30 days before the end date
Other brokers and health plans	Notice under each agreement’s termination section	As each agreement says
Ohio Medicaid	Written notice of voluntary termination	30 days before your chosen date
North Carolina Medicaid	Change request in NCTracks removing every health plan, with an end date	Before the end date you choose
Employees	Final wages	By your state’s deadline (Texas: 6 calendar days after a layoff)
IRS	Final Form 941 or 944, and Form 940 marked final	For the quarter and year of final wages
NPPES	NPI deactivation	After your last claims are paid
Secretary of State	Dissolution or termination filing	After taxes are paid

Facility contracts and private pay riders need notice too. Check each facility contract for its termination clause, and give regular riders time to find another provider. For how to word a broker notice and hand off riders, see how to leave a NEMT broker.

End your Medicaid enrollment the right way

Your enrollment should end on or after your last date of service, never before it. Medicaid pays only enrolled providers, so an end date set too early can leave trips you already drove unpaid.

How three states handle the end of enrollment

• North Carolina. You end your own record in NCTracks by submitting a complete Manage Change Request that removes every active health plan, with the date you choose for each. NCTracks will not take a retroactive end date when a seller ends its record for a sale, so do not plan on backdating. After you terminate, your NCTracks login still works for checking claim status and history.
• Ohio. Send written notice 30 days before your chosen termination date. Ohio may waive the 30 days. It also lists failing to report a closure within 30 days as grounds to propose ending your agreement (OAC 5160-1-17.6(G)(22)).
• Texas. A billing location with no claims for 24 months is disenrolled. Texas also checks every NPI against NPPES and disenrolls all practice locations and programs tied to an inactive NPI (TMPPM Section 1, September 2026).

Doing nothing is not a plan. North Carolina sends a Maintain Eligibility notice after 12 months without claims and ends the record if you do not respond. Ohio may propose ending the agreement of a provider that has not billed in two years or longer. Do not leave it to chance: report the closure yourself, the same way you would report any other change to Medicaid.

Get paid for your last trips

Ending a contract does not cancel what you are owed. MTM Health’s agreement says termination has no effect on rights from services performed before it. But the last payments can come slower and smaller, so plan for both.

Bill every trip before its deadline

Claim deadlines keep running after you stop. Federal rules make every state require claims within 12 months of the date of service (42 CFR 447.45), and your broker or plan can set a shorter limit. MTM’s standard agreement gives you 90 days unless its client sets another limit. Bill each trip as soon as it is done, not in one batch at the end. See timely filing limits.

Expect holds and audits

Under MTM’s agreement, payment for every claim unpaid when you give notice is held until MTM has audited your service records and claims. MTM can subtract damages and assessments and recover amounts it paid in error. Answer every records request fast, and see how to handle a Medicaid audit.

Keep the accounts that get you paid open

Keep your claims portal login, your business bank account, and your direct deposit in place until the last remittance arrives. In North Carolina, once a seller’s NPI record is ended for a sale, the old direct deposit details are no longer valid and nothing more is paid into that account. Download every remittance advice and claim report while you still have access.

Your NPI and USDOT number go last

Deactivate your NPI after the last payment

Your NPI belongs to your company, and your Medicaid claims carry it. Leave it active until every claim, appeal, and corrected claim is paid. Then deactivate it in NPPES, or on paper with Form CMS-10114 (Rev. 02/25) by checking Deactivation and the reason Business Dissolved. If you ever reopen, the same form has a reactivation option. See how to get an NPI number for NEMT for how NPPES works.

Close your USDOT number and any operating authority

If you hold FMCSA operating authority (an MC number) for interstate trips, ask FMCSA to revoke it and to record your USDOT number as out of business. Motus, FMCSA’s online registration system, takes both requests, and FMCSA’s April 29, 2026 notice set it to open to every registered company in the second quarter of 2026. On paper, the revocation request is Form OCE-46, and its signature must be notarized or made in front of FMCSA staff. If your insurance filing lapses instead, FMCSA revokes the authority on its own, with the same effect (Federal Register, August 24, 2023). See USDOT numbers for NEMT if you are not sure what you hold.

Pay your staff and file final payroll returns

Federal law does not require you to hand over a final paycheck immediately, but some states set their own deadlines (U.S. Department of Labor). In Texas, a laid-off employee’s final pay is due within 6 calendar days. Check your state’s labor department before your last day.

The IRS closing a business page lists the federal filings:

1. Final Form 941 or 944. File it for the quarter you pay final wages. Check the box saying the business closed, enter the date final wages were paid (line 17 of Form 941 or line 14 of Form 944), and attach a statement naming who keeps the payroll records and where.
2. Form 940. File it for the year of final wages and check box d to mark it final.
3. Forms W-2. Give each employee a W-2 by the due date of your final Form 941 or 944, and send Copy A to the Social Security Administration with Form W-3.
4. Forms 1099-NEC. File one for each contractor, such as a 1099 driver, you paid $2,000 or more in 2026 (IRS instructions, updated July 2026). See 1099 or W-2 drivers.

Close your state unemployment tax account too. In Texas you close it in Unemployment Tax Services under Update/Close Tax Account, and the state also closes accounts that report no wages for eight quarters in a row.

Sell the vans and cancel insurance in the right order

Selling the vans. Report each sale on IRS Form 4797. If you keep a van for personal use and its business use drops to 50 percent or less, you also file Form 4797 for the section 179 deduction you took. Part of any gain is taxed as ordinary income because of past depreciation, as when to replace a NEMT vehicle explains.

Plates before insurance. Turn in plates and registrations before you cancel auto liability coverage. New York requires it, and if you do not turn in the plates, it suspends the registration and can suspend your driver license.

State licenses. Many states license NEMT vehicles or companies, as NEMT license requirements shows. In New Jersey, mobility assistance vehicle licenses become void and go back to the Department of Health when a license is surrendered or a vehicle is sold or retired (N.J.A.C. 8:40-2.3).

Claims after you close. A lawsuit over a trip can arrive after the doors close. Ask your agent which of your policies are written on a claims-made basis, because those cover only claims made while the policy is active. Extended reporting coverage, often called tail coverage, covers late claims. New York’s Regulation 121 requires a 60-day automatic extended reporting period, at no extra premium, when claims-made coverage ends, and written notice within 30 days of what longer coverage costs. Check your own state’s rules, and see NEMT insurance requirements.

File the final tax returns and dissolve the company

Federal income tax. File the final return for your business type for the year you close and check the final return box. A sole owner files Schedule C. A partnership files Form 1065 with final K-1s. A corporation files Form 1120 or 1120-S, plus Form 966 if it adopts a resolution or plan to dissolve.

Your EIN. The IRS cannot cancel an EIN, but it will deactivate it. Send a letter with the legal name, EIN, address, reason, and a copy of your EIN assignment notice if you have it, to the address on the IRS page for EINs you no longer need. The IRS deactivates it only after every return is filed and every tax is paid.

State taxes and dissolution. File your final state returns, then end the company with your Secretary of State. In Texas, Form 651 (Revised 09/26) costs $40 and must include a certificate from the Comptroller that all state taxes under Title 2 of the Tax Code are paid. In Florida, articles of dissolution for an LLC cost $25 as of October 2026. See LLC for NEMT and NEMT business taxes.

Keep your records after you close

Audits can reach back years after your last trip, so the records outlive the company. Decide who keeps them, where, and who pays for storage, and write it down.

• Broker records. MTM’s agreement asks for full records of your operations under it for 10 years, or longer if the law or its client requires.
• State license records. New Jersey requires patient care records for at least 10 years and other required records for 5, and a provider that stops operating must arrange safe storage that keeps them readable and accessible (N.J.A.C. 8:40-3.9).
• Tax records. The IRS says to keep employment tax records at least 4 years, and property records until the period to amend the return for the year you sold the property, or for the IRS to assess more tax, has passed.
• Rider information. Trip logs carry health information, so they stay locked and private while you keep them. Federal rules require each business associate agreement to have you return or destroy rider information when the agreement ends, if that is feasible, and to keep protecting what you must keep (45 CFR 164.504). See HIPAA for NEMT.

The NEMT record retention guide lists periods by record type and state.

How to close a NEMT business, step by step

1. Check for open audits, holds, and overpayments. Settle them or get legal advice first.
2. Pick your last day of service. Count back at least 30 days, or longer where a contract requires it.
3. Send written notices. Notify every broker, health plan, facility, and your state Medicaid program, and keep proof of delivery.
4. Run every assigned trip to the end. Help brokers and riders move standing orders to other providers.
5. Bill every trip at once. Track each claim against the shortest deadline you work under.
6. End your Medicaid enrollment on or after your last date of service, and keep your portal login.
7. Pay final wages by your state’s deadline, then file the final Form 941 or 944, Form 940, W-2s, and 1099-NECs.
8. Sell or retire the vans. Sign over titles, turn in plates, return state vehicle licenses, then cancel auto coverage. Ask about tail coverage on claims-made policies.
9. Close FMCSA accounts. In Motus, ask to revoke any operating authority and record your USDOT number as out of business.
10. Collect the last payments. Answer audits and records requests, and download every remittance.
11. Deactivate your NPI once every claim and appeal is paid.
12. File final tax returns, close state tax and unemployment accounts, and dissolve the company with your Secretary of State.
13. Ask the IRS to deactivate your EIN, and store your records with a named custodian.