Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

The Obama Administration has announced that it is postponing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s (PPACA<) mandatory employer and insurer reporting requirements for one year. As a result, the administration also announced that it will waive the imposition of any employer-shared responsibility penalty payments for 2014. This effectively means that employers with 50 or more employees will not be required to provide health insurance to their employees or face a penalty until 2015.

Beginning in 2014, a penalty will be imposed on certain individuals who fail to have minimum essential health insurance for themselves and their dependents. However, to help subsidize the cost of health insurance and make it more affordable, eligible individuals who purchase coverage under a qualified health plan through an Affordable Insurance Exchange may receive a premium assistance credit. The IRS has issued guidance for employees on their eligibility to claim this credit.

In order to be eligible for the premium assistance credit, a taxpayer must satisfy the following criteria:

The IRS has issued proposed regulations to implement the information reporting requirements for insurers and certain employers under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPAC<). The proposals are a response to an ongoing dialog with representatives of employers, insurers, other reporting entities and individual taxpayers.

Provisions under PPAC< require reporting by insurers, self-insuring employers, and other parties that provide health coverage; and also require information reporting by employers that are large enough to be subject to the employer shared responsibility provisions. In early July 2013, the Obama Administration announced a postponement of PPAC’s mandatory employer and insurer reporting requirements for one year. As a result, the reporting requirements have been delayed until 2015.