NEW GUIDANCE AND RELIEF FOR EMPLOYER PAYMENT OF INDIVIDUAL PREMIUMS
Under the ACA, employer payment plans do not comply with several provisions that took effect beginning in 2014. Violations of these rules can result in excise taxes of $100 per day for each employee.
An employer payment plan is an arrangement where an employer reimburses or pays premiums for an employee’s individual health insurance.
The Departments of Labor (DOL), Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Treasury have released several pieces of guidance clarifying the rules regarding these arrangements. The IRS issued Notice 2015-17 on Feb. 18, 2015, providing further clarification.
Specifically, this notice provides information on several related issues:
Reiterates that employer payment plans are group health plans that will fail to comply with the ACA’s market reforms applicable to group health plans;
Clarifies that increases in employee compensation do not constitute an employer payment plan, as long as the increases are not conditioned on the purchase of individual health coverage;
Provides transition relief from the excise tax for employer payment plans sponsored by small employers (those not subject to the ACA’s employer shared responsibility rules) and to S corporation health care arrangements for 2-percent shareholder-employees;
Addresses whether employers may reimburse employees for Medicare or TRICARE premiums for active employees under the ACA; and
States that employer payments for individual premiums can be excludable from an employee’s income under the tax code but will still violate the ACA’s market reforms.
Employers should review their benefit and compensation plans and policies to ensure they are not in violation of current guidance regarding employer payment plans.
