COBRA Notice Deadline Wednesday

As we advised you a couple of weeks ago, a 100% subsidy of COBRA premiums was mandated by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) through September 30. The ARPA further dictated that plan administrators give advance notice to “assistance-eligible individuals” (AEIs) that their COBRA subsidy period is coming to an end. The final date by…

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Treasury Expands Applicability of Tax Credit

Last week, the US Department of the Treasury announced in a letter to members of the US Senate that it will revise its initial guidance prohibiting employers from claiming the Worker Retention Tax Credit. That guidance disqualified employers from claiming the credit when paying for their workers’ health benefits but not providing wages. In response…

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ObamaCare, California-style

It may be effectively neutered at the federal level, but the California legislature just put the individual mandate back on the books when it passed SB 78, legislation that authorizes the taxing of California citizens who do not purchase health insurance and Governor Gavin Newsom signed it into law last Friday. The new law essentially…

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IRS Extends Forms to Employees Deadline

The Internal Revenue Services (IRS) has extended the due date for distributing 2017 health coverage information forms to employees. The deadline, originally set for January 31 has now been extended to March 2, 2018. Self-insured employers and all employers with 50 or more full-time equivalent employees now have until March 2, 2018, to provide Form…

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“We Do Everything So Well, Why Not Health Insurance?”

Well, to be honest, we all knew it would come to this at some point, didn’t we?  New Jersey Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, a democratic lawmaker from Trenton who is currently a Deputy Majority Leader in the NJ Assembly is proposing that the state of New Jersey operate a health insurance system to compete with private…

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Miscellaneous

Today is April 15, tax day.  This year though, taxpayers have an extra three days because of the April 16 Emancipation Day holiday.  Emancipation Day is celebrated to mark the anniversary of Abraham Lincoln signing the District of Columbia Emancipation Act, by which some 3,000 slaves were freed in the nation’s capital.  In that the…

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IRS Extends ACA Employer Filing Deadline

The Internal Revenue Service this week released Notice 2016-4, extending filing and distribution deadlines for the employer reporting requirements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), thereby giving employers more time to comply with the law. Under the Internal Revenue Code (IRC), employers (both self-insured and those with 50 or more FTEs) must file the requisite…

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SHOP No Minimum Expires December 15

Eligible small businesses looking to take advantage of no minimum participation rates offered by the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) Marketplace have just under two weeks to make their selection as the no minimum offer expires on December 15.  Generally, businesses must meet a participation rate of 70% of employees in order to enroll…

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Affordable Care Act Offers “LTO”

Perhaps stealing an idea from the QSR industry, a limited time offer has been put forth by the SHOP Marketplace (Small Business Health Options Program) regarding minimum participation rates.  Beginning earlier this week and continuing until December 15, small businesses can purchase health insurance coverage in the SHOP Marketplace without meeting a minimum participation rate. …

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Eliminating the Cadillac Tax

Congressional appetite to repeal the so-called Cadillac Tax provisions of Obama Care appears to be growing as we get closer to the 2018 effective date for that tax provision.   The “Cadillac Tax” is a non-refundable 40% excise tax on employee premiums that exceed $10,200 and $27,500 for individual and family coverage respectively.  In a letter…

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