The Affordable Care Act (ACA) brought a slew of requirements to employers, both those who provide health insurance for their employees and those who don’t. Complying with the requirements and reporting on how compliance is met makes following the ACA particularly cumbersome.
Most of the ACA’s requirements affect employers with an average of at least 50 full-time employees (or full-time employee equivalents) during the calendar year. Referred to as Applicable Large Employers (ALEs), these employers are in effect subject to an additional tax referred to as the Employee Shared Responsibility Payment if they do not offer adequate and affordable coverage to their employees and at least one employee enrolls in the ACA’s Health Insurance Marketplace. Controlled entities are considered in the aggregate when determining ACA eligibility.
Read More
Topics:
Affordable Care Act,
ACA,
Ron Morrison,
ACA Guidance
An eleventh-hour temporary extension of federal highway and transportation spending is partially paid for by new tax compliance requirements. The Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015 (H.R. 3236) was approved by the House, 385 to 34, on July 29, and the Senate on July 30, by a 91-4 margin. This stop-gap bill changes the filing deadlines of certain returns, modifies mortgage reporting, clarifies the six-year statute of limitations in the case of overstatement of basis, and requires consistency between estate tax value and income tax basis of assets acquired from a decedent. The bill also provides that employees with TRI-CARE or VA coverage may be exempted from the Affordable Care Act's employer shared responsibility requirements and clarifies veterans' eligibility for a health savings account (HSA).
Read More
Topics:
tax compliance,
Affordable Care Act,
Stopgap Highway Bill
A CBIZ Talks podcast about Affordable Care Act (ACA) reporting requirements
The Affordable Care Act requires all IRS reporting for 2015 to be completed by early 2016 and that’s not going to be easy.
Kathleen Hayes and Michael McKee from Bloomberg Radio’s Taking Stock program recently talked with Ron Morrison, Business Unit President of CBIZ Clearview, about what employers with 50 or more employees need to do for ACA reporting.
Read More
Topics:
Affordable Care Act,
Ron Morrison,
ACA Penalties,
CBIZ Talks
Employers Must Prepare Now for New Reporting Requirements
While the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has imposed a number of changes for employers since its inception in 2010, one of the upcoming reporting requirements may be the most challenging yet. The ACA added Sections 6055 and 6056 to the Internal Revenue Code, which requires insurers and applicable large employers to file information returns with the IRS and to provide statements to their full-time employees, similar to Form W-2, about the health insurance coverage offered by the employer.
Read More
Topics:
reporting requirements,
Affordable Care Act,
Ron Morrison
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has transformed group health plans since the law was enacted more than four years ago, and plan sponsors must work diligently to keep pace with tax-related compliance requirements. Among the most notable reforms effective in 2015 is the shared responsibility mandate and reporting requirements for large employers. Here’s an overview of this and other significant reporting requirements for this year.
Employer Shared Responsibility Mandate
Section 4980H of the Internal Revenue Code requires “applicable large employers” with 50 or more full-time employees (including full-time equivalent, or FTE, employees) to offer health coverage to full-time employees and their children or pay a penalty. The effective date of the employer shared responsibility mandate – often referred to as the “play-or-pay mandate” – was January 1, 2015. (It was originally scheduled to take effect in 2014 but the IRS postponed that start date.)
Read More
Topics:
Bernard Kaplan,
Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) imposes new reporting requirements on health insurers, as well as on certain employers. These reporting requirements are imposed by IRC Sections 6055 and 6056 (see CBIZ Health Reform Bulletin, IRS Final Rules – IRC Sections 6055 and 6056, 3/14/14). These reporting requirements are for the purpose of helping the government discern who might be entitled to premium assistance, as well as discern what employers might be subject to the employer shared responsibility excise tax. This bulletin will focus primarily on the employer’s reporting obligation.
Read More
Topics:
IRS,
Affordable Care Act,
ACA,
Karen McLeese
What are PCORI fees?
PCORI fees represent a new tax under the Affordable Care Act.
Read More
Topics:
Bernard Kaplan,
Diane Caron,
Affordable Care Act,
PCORI
Despite a one-year delay in the effective date of the shared-responsibility provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to January 1, 2015, employers should begin planning now.
Employers providing group health coverage for employees should begin to assess their existing policies now to determine whether they comply with current ACA regulations and those to be enacted in 2015. If the policies do not comply, organizations must decide whether—and how—to redesign their plans to comply or formulate a plan of action if they choose not to comply.
Read More
Topics:
Bernard Kaplan,
tax compliance,
Affordable Care Act