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What Business Owners Should Know About Stop-Loss Insurance

When choosing health care benefits, many businesses opt for a self-insured (self-funded) plan rather than a fully insured one. Why? Among various reasons, self-insured plans tend to offer greater flexibility and potentially lower fixed costs.

When implementing a self-insured plan, stop-loss insurance is typically recommended. Although buying such a policy isn’t required, many small to midsize companies find it a beneficial risk-management tool.

Purpose of coverage

Specifically, stop-loss insurance protects the business against the risk that health care plan claims greatly exceed the amount budgeted to cover costs. Plan administration costs generally are fixed in advance, and an actuary can estimate claims costs. This information allows a company to budget for the estimated overall plan cost. However, exceptionally large — that is, catastrophic — claims can bust the budget.

To be clear, stop-loss insurance doesn’t pay participants’ health care benefits. Rather, it reimburses the business for certain claims properly paid by the plan above a stated […]

By Linkenheimer LLP|2021-11-02T18:57:28+00:00November 2nd, 2021|business, insurance|0 Comments

Does Your Employer Provide Life Insurance? Here Are The Tax Consequences

Employer-provided life insurance is a coveted fringe benefit. However, if group term life insurance is part of your benefit package, and the coverage is higher than $50,000, there may be undesirable income tax implications.

Tax on income you don’t receive

The first $50,000 of group term life insurance coverage that your employer provides is excluded from taxable income and doesn’t add anything to your income tax bill. But the employer-paid cost of group term coverage in excess of $50,000 is taxable income to you. It’s included in the taxable wages reported on your Form W-2 — even though you never actually receive it. In other words, it’s “phantom income.”

What’s worse, the cost of group term insurance must be determined under a table prepared by the IRS even if the employer’s actual cost is less than the cost figured under the table. With these determinations, the amount of taxable phantom income attributed to an older employee is often higher than the premium the […]

By Linkenheimer LLP|2021-08-24T22:51:00+00:00August 24th, 2021|employer, insurance, w2|0 Comments

IRS Additional Guidance Addresses COBRA Assistance Under ARPA

In Notice 2021-46, the IRS recently issued additional guidance on the COBRA premium assistance provisions of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).

Under the ARPA, a 100% COBRA premium subsidy and additional COBRA enrollment rights are available to certain assistance eligible individuals (AEIs) during the period beginning on April 1, 2021, and ending on September 30, 2021 (the Subsidy Period).

If your business is required to offer COBRA coverage, it’s important to mind the details of the subsidies and a related tax credit. Here are some highlights of the additional guidance:

Extended coverage periods. An AEI whose original qualifying event was a reduction of hours or involuntary termination is generally eligible for the subsidy to the extent the extended COBRA coverage falls within the Subsidy Period. The AEI must be entitled to the extended coverage because of a:

Disability determination,
Second qualifying event, or
Extension under a state mini-COBRA law.

This is true even if the AEI didn’t notify the plan of the intent to elect extended COBRA coverage before the start of the Subsidy Period — for example, because of the Outbreak Period deadline extensions.

End of Subsidy Period. The subsidy ends when an AEI becomes […]

By Linkenheimer LLP|2021-08-20T20:16:46+00:00August 20th, 2021|cobra|0 Comments

Health Savings Accounts For Your Small Business

Small business owners are well aware of the increasing cost of employee health care benefits. As a result, your business may be interested in providing some of these benefits through an employer-sponsored Health Savings Account (HSA). Or perhaps you already have an HSA. It’s a good time to review how these accounts work since the IRS recently announced the relevant inflation-adjusted amounts for 2021.

The basics of HSAs

For eligible individuals, HSAs offer a tax-advantaged way to set aside funds (or have their employers do so) to meet future medical needs. Here are the key tax benefits:

Contributions that participants make to an HSA are deductible, within limits.
Contributions that employers make aren’t taxed to participants.
Earnings on the funds within an HSA aren’t taxed, so the money can accumulate year after year tax free.
HSA distributions to cover qualified medical expenses aren’t taxed.
Employers don’t have to pay payroll taxes on HSA contributions made by employees through payroll deductions.

Key 2020 and 2021 amounts

To be eligible for an HSA, an individual must be covered by a “high deductible health plan.” For 2020, a “high deductible health plan” is one with an annual deductible of […]

By Linkenheimer LLP|2020-11-24T18:19:24+00:00November 24th, 2020|hsa, small business, small business health options|0 Comments

Health Care—Reporting Reminder for Applicable Large Employers

The IRS has reminded Applicable Large Employers (ALEs) (generally those with 50 or more full-time equivalent employees) that they are subject to new reporting requirements for 2015. The first statements (Form 1095-C for employees and the IRS, and Form 1094-C for the IRS only) must be provided to employees by 2/1/16 and to the IRS by 2/29/16 (3/31/16, if filed electronically). The reports will provide information about health coverage the ALE offered (or didn’t offer) to each full-time employee, which the IRS will use to determine whether the employer shared responsibility payment applies to the ALE and if the employee is eligible for the premium tax credit. All ALEs are subject to this reporting requirement—regardless of whether they offer coverage or are subject to the employer shared responsibility provisions. The IRS will use the information to determine if the ALE is eligible for transition relief under the employer shared responsibility provisions. If you have any questions on how the reporting requirements effect you and your business, please contact your Linkenheimer CPA.

By Linkenheimer LLP|2020-09-03T20:05:23+00:00October 19th, 2015|Health care|0 Comments