Category: Employee Benefits
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ACA – The law that really wasn’t
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 really hasn’t had any significant impact on individuals and small businesses despite the volumes of information, rhetoric and threats of penalties for non-compliance. Today the Obama administration extended the individual health insurance enrollment deadline (again) regarding the individual mandate. Last week they postponed the effective deadline for small business…
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Audio Post on full time employee testing under ACA
This user question was about inconsistencies in payroll reports that make ACA compliance testing difficult for employees who work somewhere near 130 hours per month. I referred to it as the “grey zone”. Excerpt from my written response: “It is an interesting question and it seems that you have a good handle on the…
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Tax consequences of non-group insurance employer health plans
This is an excerpt from a client memo today on the ongoing conversation about the use of a strategy other than group health insurance: You asked about whether it is possible way to combine the use of individual health insurance and employer payments for employee health costs in any manner whatsoever even if the employees…
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Misunderstandings of tax treatment of health insurance
An article in Forbes earlier this month was apparently misunderstood by some readers. PPACA is certainly difficult and some issues are not yet resolved. But we should not let that confusion undermine our understanding of basis tax principles governing the treatment of health insurance premiums paid by an employer. I suggest that it would be good…
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estimating defined benefit contributions
I was impressed by onepersonplus-for-db.com estimator for maximum defined benefit contribution. The proposal it generates is simple. The discussion that must accompany the planning for this type of strategy is not simple. I know most people who consider a new pension plan are largely unaware of the risks, cost and potential downsides. So A tool…
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Americans are baffled by health insurance elections
149 million people representing 55% of working Americans are covered by employer sponsored health insurance plans. Yet the large majority have no access to advice or information other than provided by the employer, the company selling the insurance or the company handling the enrollment. As a result, many employees choose inefficient coverage options and a significant number elect…
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How I inadvertently contributed to incorrect tax treatment of HRAs
Imagine that you are a mechanic and someone walks into your shop and asks you to put wings on his Honda Civic. You might say, “That’s silly, Civic’s don’t fly” and dismiss the request. Then three more owners walk in with the same question. You think about it some more and say “Well, it might look…
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Disagreements about taxation of individual health insurance in 2014
It seems that the most confusing tax topic this year in the wake of the Affordable Care Act implementation is the taxation of individual health insurance when an employer is involved in the payment of the cost. No doubt other confusing issues are still on the horizon, but this one is here and now. Small business…