In a previous post we summarized the provisions of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (“the Act”) governing employee benefit plans, including retirement, welfare, and fringe benefit programs. With this post we begin an...more
On April 29th, in connection with the National Emergency declaration related to COVID-19, the Department of Labor, the Department of the Treasury, and the Internal Revenue Service (the “Agencies”) jointly issued a final...more
On June 13, 2019, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Labor (DOL), the Department of the Treasury (Treasury Department) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) (collectively, the “Departments”)...more
7/11/2019
/ Affordable Care Act ,
COBRA ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Final Rules ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Healthcare ,
HRA ,
IRS ,
Medicare ,
Public Health Service Act ,
Qualified Small Employer Health Reimbursement Plan (QSEHRAs) ,
TRICARE ,
U.S. Treasury
Health Reimbursement Arrangements (or “HRAs”) are employer-funded, account-based group health plans, which are used to reimburse certain medical expenses incurred by eligible employees, their spouses, and their dependents....more
12/13/2018
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Health Insurance ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
HRA ,
IRS ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Proposed Rules ,
Qualified Small Employer Health Reimbursement Plan (QSEHRAs)
The “intermediate sanctions” rules under Section 4958 of the Internal Revenue Code have long governed the payment of compensation to executives of public charities. While these rules are highly prescriptive, if followed, they...more
1/2/2018
/ 501(c)(3) ,
Board of Directors ,
Charitable Organizations ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Covered Employees ,
Deferred Compensation ,
Employee Benefits ,
Excise Tax ,
Executive Compensation ,
Form 990 ,
IRS ,
Nonprofits ,
Remuneration ,
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ,
Tax Exempt Entities ,
UBTI
The Internal Revenue Service has for some time made available a comprehensive set of Questions & Answers covering the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) employer shared responsibility rules. (These are the rules that are codified in...more
With its “employer mandate”—i.e., the requirement that applicable large employers make an offer of group health coverage to substantially all full-time employees or face the prospect of a penalty—the Affordable Care Act (ACA)...more
6/15/2017
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Captive Insurance Company ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Mandates ,
Health Insurance ,
IRS ,
Large Employer ,
Medical Stop-Loss Rules ,
MEWAs ,
Self-Funded Health Plans
Employer-sponsored group health plans and health insurance issuers (or carriers) are subject to information reporting requirements under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), including the obligation to report taxpayer...more
The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service recently issued comprehensive proposed regulations governing nonqualified plans subject to tax under Internal Revenue Code § 457. Code § 457 prescribes the tax rules...more
7/8/2016
/ Deferred Compensation ,
Forfeiture ,
Income Taxes ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Section 409A ,
Section 457(f) ,
Severance Agreements ,
Tax Exempt Entities ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Vesting
For the last half of 2015, we spent a good deal of time explaining the Affordable Care Act reporting requirements that applied to carriers and large employers. This post examines the how of ACA reporting. In particular, it...more
In Q&A format, recently issued Notice 2015-87 addresses a number of pressing issues that have arisen under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), including that law’s employer shared responsibility rules, information reporting...more
Issued at the end of last year, Notice 2015-87 provided detailed guidance on a host of topics. The notice has been referred to colloquially in some quarters as the “pot luck” notice. Among other things, the notice, in Q&A 4,...more
This post concludes our half-year series of posts focusing on the Affordable Care Act’s reporting requirements. These requirements are challenging in the extreme. Carriers and employers, and their vendors, service providers...more
Under the Affordable Care Act’s reporting requirements that have been the subject of this series, statements to responsible individuals (a/k/a “employees”)—i.e., Forms 1095-B and 1095-C—must be furnished on or before January...more
It took a while, but most employers and their advisors have finally gotten the hang of the Affordable Care Act’s employer shared responsibility rules. That is, they understand generally that:
1. “Applicable Large...more
Last week we examined the reporting challenges associated with employee terminations, changes in status, and breaks in service under the monthly measurement method. As we explained, “[t]he final regulations under Code § 4980H...more
In an earlier post, we reported on a troubling development in the draft 2015 instructions for Forms 1094-B and 1095-B which, if adopted, would have required sponsors of Health Reimbursement Arrangements (“HRA”) to issue...more
11/3/2015
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Final Rules ,
Form 1094 ,
Form 1095 ,
HRA ,
IRS ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
Medicare Advantage ,
Medicare Part B ,
Minimum Essential Coverage ,
Reporting Requirements ,
State Medicaid Programs ,
Supplemental Insurance ,
TRICARE ,
U.S. Treasury
As we noted in a previous post, the recently issued final 2015 Instructions for Forms 1094-C and 1095-C changed certain of the rules relating to the reporting for offers of COBRA coverage where the COBRA qualifying event...more
10/29/2015
/ Affordable Care Act ,
American Bar Association (ABA) ,
COBRA ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Final Rules ,
Form 1094 ,
Form 1095 ,
Full-Time Employees ,
Health Insurance ,
IRS ,
Part-Time Employees ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Safe Harbors ,
Self-Funded Health Plans ,
Shared Responsibility Rule ,
Termination ,
U.S. Treasury
When reporting offers of coverage to full-time employees under the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) employer shared responsibility rules, much of the detail appears in Part II of IRS Form 1095-C, Lines 14, 15 and 16. For the most...more
10/23/2015
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Employer Mandates ,
Full-Time Employees ,
Health Insurance ,
Hiring & Firing ,
IRS ,
Minimum Value Plans ,
New Hires ,
Part-Time Employees ,
Penalties ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Shared Responsibility Rule
Compliance with the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) employer shared responsibility rules requires that applicable large employers identify their full-time employees. A “full-time employee” for this purpose is an employee who...more
10/14/2015
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Disability Leave ,
Employer Mandates ,
Excise Tax ,
Full-Time Employees ,
Health Insurance ,
IRS ,
Large Employer ,
Penalties ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Safe Harbors ,
U.S. Treasury
This series is devoted principally to the reporting requirements imposed by Internal Revenue Code §§ 6055 and 6056 as added by §§ 1502 and 1514 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), respectively. The former reports offers of...more
In Notice 2014-69, the Treasury Department and the IRS clarified that a group health plan that fails to provide substantial coverage for in-patient hospitalization and physician services will not be treated as providing...more
9/30/2015
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Amended Regulation ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Health Insurance ,
Hospitals ,
IRS ,
Minimum Essential Coverage ,
Minimum Value Plans ,
Physicians ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Tax Credits ,
U.S. Treasury
The IRS recently issued final instructions for Forms 1094-B and 1095-B and Forms 1094-C and 1095-C . The 2015 Instructions for Forms 1094-B and 1095-B implement a suggestion we made in a previous post relating to the...more
9/22/2015
/ Affordable Care Act ,
COBRA ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Expatriates ,
Final Guidance ,
Health Insurance ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
HRA ,
IRS ,
Minimum Essential Coverage ,
Minimum Value Plans ,
Multiemployer Plan ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Self-Funded Health Plans ,
U.S. Treasury
The Affordable Care Act’s reporting rules—which are set out in Internal Revenue Code §§ 6055 and 6056—solicit the information needed by the Internal Revenue Service to enforce the individual and employer shared responsibility...more
9/15/2015
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Mandates ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
IRS ,
Large Employer ,
Look-Back Measurement Period ,
Minimum Essential Coverage ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Shared Responsibility Rule ,
Subsidies
The Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) employer shared responsibility rules provide applicable large employers (i.e., those with 50 or more full-time and full-time equivalent employees on business days during the preceding calendar...more
9/10/2015
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Excise Tax ,
Health Insurance ,
IRS ,
MEWAs ,
Multiemployer Plan ,
Professional Employer Organization ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Shared Responsibility Rule ,
Staffing Agencies ,
Taft-Hartley Act ,
Tax Credits