New Tax Penalty Starts Today on Small Business Health Insurance

From taxpro today:


"Small business groups are sounding a warning about an obscure Internal Revenue Service rule that takes effect Wednesday imposing heavy fines on small businesses for helping defray the cost of their workers’ insurance or medical expenses.


The National Federation of Independent Business said small businesses that get caught helping their workers buy insurance or pay medical bills can be fined 18 times more than larger employers that don’t provide coverage at all.

“It’s the biggest penalty that no one is talking about,” said NFIB policy director Kevin Kuhlman in a statement. “The penalty for compensating employees for healthcare-related expenses is enough to destroy most small businesses.”


Under the rule, which the NFIB noted appears nowhere in the Affordable Care Act, employers who do not offer a group health plan, but give their workers additional pay to compensate for the purchase of health insurance or direct medical expenses, can be fined $100 per day, per employee. Over the course of a year that can add up to $36,500 per employee, up to $500,000 in total. In contrast, the penalty on businesses for failing to comply with the employer mandate is only $2,000 per year.
The National Association for the Self-Employed,  an advocacy group for the self-employed and micro-business community, is calling on the Treasury Department to immediately delay the policy until the end of the year in order for bipartisan legislation to passed through Congress to remedy the situation.

“Currently in Congress bipartisan legislation has been introduced that would fix this unintended consequence of the Affordable Care Act,” said NASE vice president for government relations and public affairs Katie Vlietstra. “The Treasury Department should immediately announce a delay in this rule until the end of the year in order for the legislative process to work and for small businesses to be spared the devastating effects this IRS rule could have across America’s Main Street.”

In February, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s announced a delay in the enforcement of the technical guidance issued in September 2013 for health reimbursement arrangements. The February delay expires July 1 and fines could begin to be imposed on businesses not meeting the requirement for group coverage plans that provide health care assistance for their employees through the use of traditional HRA accounts.

“It’s hard to believe Congress or the President intended to punish employers much more severely for actually helping their workers,” said Kuhlman. “Nevertheless, that’s the consequence and most small businesses don’t know it.”


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