Sorting through the many provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA)  is difficult for anybody, so here are some ACA tips for small businesses; employers with fewer than 50 employees. Small businesses are being asked to do more with less, and many struggle with the legislation.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has released tips for employers with fewer than 50 full-time employees on how the Affordable Care Act (ACA) affects their businesses.

Pay or Play Not Applicable

If an employer has fewer than 50 full-time employees (including full-time equivalent employees) on average during the prior year, the employer is generally not subject to the employer shared responsibility (“pay or play”) provisions or the large employer information reporting requirements for the current year.

Calculating the number of employees is especially important for employers that have close to 50 employees or whose workforce fluctuates throughout the year. To determine its workforce size for a year, an employer adds its total number of full-time employees for each month of the prior calendar year to the total number of full-time equivalent employees for each calendar month of the prior calendar year, and divides that total number by 12. For more information, visit the IRS page on Determining if an Employer is an Applicable Large Employer.

Other Tips

Employers that have fewer than 25 full-time equivalent employees with average annual wages of less than $50,000 (adjusted for inflation) may be eligible for the small business health care tax credit if they cover at least 50% of the premium cost of employee-only insurance coverage. (For tax years beginning in 2014 or later, generally only premiums paid for qualified health plans offered through a SHOP count for the credit.)

The recently passed a bill to change the definition of full time vs. part time employees,

All employers (regardless of size) that provide self-insured health coverage must file an annual information return reporting certain information for individuals they cover. The first returns are due to be filed in 2016 for coverage provided during 2015.

Click here to read the IRS tips, and please regularly check in with our blog as we are working to stay ahead of all the ACA legislative updates to keep our members compliant. We offer the best small business employee benefit solutions for your business so please contact us to learn more about our power in numbers. Since 1929 we have delivered best in class service, and much more for our members.