The IRS has issued its first ACA penalty letters for tax year 2021. While employers have been forewarned, many may not be fully armed to respond in a timely and compliant manner. The IRS is making good on its promise, and...more
On Nov. 10, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments for California v. Texas, the case challenging the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) constitutionality. This case centers on the ACA’s minimum essential coverage...more
A recently released redacted report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) offers some helpful insights for employers who may be assessed shared responsibility payments because the IRS thinks they...more
This post is the first installment in our blog series looking back on the 10-year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The most controversial of the ACA's reforms has been the individual mandate, which requires that...more
If you watch the news, you may have heard that the requirement known as the “individual mandate” under the Affordable Care Act, which generally requires that individuals either obtain health insurance or pay a penalty, was...more
To address data privacy considerations, employers using the same IRS forms used to satisfy Federal Reporting should consider redacting information for individuals residing outside the Adopting Jurisdiction for which the...more
The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) released final regulations... that permit employers to set aside pre-tax funds into health reimbursement arrangements (“HRAs”) that can be used by employees to pay for premiums and other...more
In a 2-1 decision, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a district court ruling that the individual mandate under the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional. However, the Fifth Circuit has sent the case back to the...more
Employers who provide health benefits to their union workforce through a multiemployer group health plan must satisfy all the Affordable Care Act (ACA) reporting requirements regarding their union employees. Employers...more
The IRS has not yet finalized the ACA reporting forms (i.e., the 1094-B/C and 1095-B/C) for the 2019 tax year, so it is no surprise that the IRS issued guidance this week extending the deadline to furnish the forms to...more
On September 30th, the IRS issued proposed regulations that establish safe harbors for compliance with the employer mandate in the context of individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements (or “ICHRAs”). These proposed...more
The Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate (i.e., the requirement that most individuals obtain adequate health insurance or pay a penalty) is dead. A side effect of the ACA mandate’s demise is that states are beginning to...more
As part of our ongoing series on the final regulations expanding the availability of health reimbursement accounts (“HRAs”), we discussed the newly-created Individual Coverage HRAs, which generally allow for employers to...more
In IRS Notice 2018-94, the IRS announced an extension for furnishing 2018 IRS Forms 1095-B (Health Coverage) and 1095-C (Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage), from January 31, 2019, to March 4, 2019. The...more
Beginning January 1, 2019, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 reduces to zero dollars the Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax penalty imposed on many individuals who fail to maintain minimum essential coverage (i.e., the individual...more
All employers are at risk of receiving a notice from the IRS that they are liable for a penalty under the Affordable Care Act for failing to offer enough employees insurance coverage, or for failing to offer particular...more
The new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act eliminates the ACA’s individual mandate to maintain minimum essential coverage, and the penalty for failure to do so, effective in 2019. While President Trump tweeted that this “effectively...more
Following the old “better late than never” axiom, the IRS recently announced (see Notice 2018-06) that once again it would be extending the distribution (but not filing) deadline for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) reporting...more
After multiple failed attempts by Congress to reform the Affordable Care Act (ACA), President Trump announced several weeks ago that the federal government would stop making subsidy payments to insurers who sell coverage...more
Within the past few weeks, IRS officials have informally indicated that the IRS would begin assessing tax penalties under the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) employer shared responsibility. The IRS has now updated its Questions...more
Many other things being equal, the longer the sail boat, the faster it can go before its bow wave defeats further speed increase. However, as any boat approaches its “hull speed,” an increasing amount of energy is required...more
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on May 24 released its much-anticipated score of the House Republicans’ bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), officially known as H.R. 1628, the American Health Care...more
Efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) are in full swing as the U.S. Senate considers whether to modify the House of Representative’s American Health Care Act (“AHCA”) or draft its own ACA repeal...more
On May 4, 2017, the House of Representatives passed the American Health Care Act (“AHCA”), the legislation to repeal and replace virtually all of the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”), by a vote of 217-213....more
On March 6, 2017, after years of promising, GOP lawmakers in the House of Representatives introduced the “American Health Care Act” (AHCA), the first concrete legislative proposal detailing the initial provisions designed to...more