Good Afternoon,
Beginning in 2015, employers are required to provide their
full-time employees with a health insurance plan that is affordable. If
an employer does not provide affordable coverage and a full-time employee
receives a tax credit by purchasing a health insurance plan through an
Exchange, the employer will be subject to penalties and fines. This
regulation is better known as the Employer Mandate. It is important to
remember that the Employer Mandate only applies to employers with 50 or more
employees. The Employer Mandate does not take effect until 2015, but
beginning in April of 2014 health insurance Exchanges will begin to provide notices
to employers informing them of which employees purchased a health plan through
an Exchange and received a tax credit. Please note if an employer
receives a notice in 2014 these notices won’t be as important as notices that
are received in 2015 since the Employer Mandate has been delayed until
2015. The notices will be provided to inform the employer of any employee
who received a tax credit through the Exchange. It will not differentiate
if the employee was a full-time employee or a part-time employee. This is
why it is critical for the employer to have a proper method in place for
handling these notices and appealing them if the notices are inaccurate.
If an employer receives an Exchange notice, these notices
should be directed to your HR department or your company’s payroll
administrator. These departments will have the capability to track and
note which employees received a tax credit through the Exchange. These
departments will also be able to differentiate which employees were part-time
or full-time and provide the proper documentation to appeal a notice that may
be inaccurate. Employers should make all employees who handle the
company’s mail aware of these notices and inform them of which department to
direct the notice. It is imperative the proper department receives these
notices as they will have 90 days to appeal if the notice states a full-time
employee received a tax credit. If the notice is inaccurate and the
employer does not appeal within the 90 days then the employer would be responsible
for the fine or penalty.
If your company has received an Exchange notice and you have
questions regarding it or need a solution on how to track these notices, please
contact our office.
