The Dept of Treasury announced late on Tuesday the decision to delay the Employer ‘Play or Pay’ rules of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to 2015.
While this is good news for the many employer groups who were not prepared for, familiar with, or ready to implement this provision (that requires groups with 50+ FTEs to provide ‘affordable’ and ‘minimal’ coverage or pay a per employee penalty of $2k to $3k per offense), it is important to clarify the only provisions of the ACA to be delayed are as follows:
- 6055: Individual Mandate reporting
- 6056: Play or Pay reporting
- 4980H: Play or Pay Employer rules
The following ACA provisions (among others) continue to apply:
- Individual Mandate: presumably, the IRS will monitor compliance through self-certification on each individual’s tax return
- Marketplace (“Exchange”) Notices: at this time employers are still required to send the marketplace notice to all employees no later than 10/1/13
- Health Insurance Reforms: the reforms such as the maximum 90-day waiting period that are set to go in effect the 1st of the month during which the plan renews after 1/1/14 all still apply
- PCORI Fee: this is still due at the end of the month if you have a calendar plan year or a plan year that ended October or November 2012.
- Transitional Reinsurance Fee
- W-2 reporting
- The limit on Health FSA salary reductions
If you have any questions on the ACA please visit the ‘Resources‘ page of our site or www.healthcare.gov