As reported in our “2018 End of Year Plan Sponsor “To Do” List (Part 1) Health & Welfare,” the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act repealed the individual mandate, which spawned a lawsuit challenging the whole of the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”). The lawsuit, filed in the Northern District of Texas in February 2018 by the […]
NC
The IRS delivered welcome news to employers preparing to meet the Affordable Care Act’s (“ACA”) information reporting deadlines in early 2019 for the 2018 calendar year. In Notice 2018-94 (the “Notice”), the IRS extended the employer’s deadline to furnish Forms 1095-B and 1095-C to employees. The new deadlines are provided below. Original Distribution Deadline Extended […]
MC
The Affordable Care Act’s requirement that group health plans provide summaries of benefits and coverage (“SBCs”) to applicants and enrollees at various times is not new. Nevertheless, because of the steep penalties for noncompliance (i.e., $1,000 per failure with respect to each participant or beneficiary and an excise tax of $100 per day with respect […]
AB
The Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) has not been kind to health reimbursement arrangements (“HRAs”). Many employers got rid of HRAs, or integrated them with a major medical plan, in order to avoid significant penalties under the ACA. At one point it appeared that after-tax HRAs did not have to comply with the ACA. However, as […]
NC
Late last year, the Internal Revenue Service (the “Service”) began enforcing penalties with respect to failures to comply with the employer shared responsibility provisions of Section 4980H of the Internal Revenue Code. In the coming months, the Service is expected to begin assessing penalties with respect to such failures occurring in calendar year 2016. These […]
MC
Administering health plans is not the easiest task. Such plans are subject to an alphabet soup of laws, including but not limited to ERISA, the Internal Revenue Code, COBRA, HIPAA, GINA, Mental Health Parity, the ADA, the ADEA, and Title VII. However, a November 2017 American Benefits Council survey may make employers feel better about […]
NC
Section 4980I, which was added to the Internal Revenue Code by the Affordable Care Act, was originally supposed to take effect in 2018. This tax is commonly called the “Cadillac tax” because it imposes a 40% excise tax on high cost employer sponsored health coverage. The Consolidated Appropriations Act signed into law on December 18, […]
NC
As we recently reported in our “2017 End of the Year Plan Sponsor To Do List,” applicable large employers must continue to submit to the IRS and to employees information regarding offers of health coverage made to full-time employees in 2017. The IRS recently published Notice 2018-06 (the “Notice”), which contains some relief with respect […]
MC
As noted in our previous blog post, The New Disability Claims Regulations: They Don’t Only Apply to Disability Plans, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued regulations that revise the ERISA claims procedure regulations for all employee benefit plans that provide disability benefits (the “New Regulations”). These rules can impact not only short-term and long-term disability […]
AB
On November 2, 2017, the IRS issued guidance regarding the enforcement of Employer Shared Responsibility payments, otherwise known as the Section 4980H penalty. Questions 55-58 of the IRS Questions and Answers on Employer Shared Responsibility Provisions Under the Affordable Care Act indicate that the IRS is moving forward with assessing penalties on Applicable Large Employers […]
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