In addition to recent changes impacting employment, look ahead to 2014 and stay on top of the Affordable Care Act requirements for employers.
Form W-2 Reporting of Employer-Sponsored Health Coverage
According to the IRS Website, the Affordable Care Act of 2010 requires employers to report the cost of coverage under an employer-sponsored group health plan. Beginning with tax year 2012, this information is to be reported on an employee's Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, in Box 12, using Code DD.
Read about the requirement, transition relief for certain employers, and the types of coverage that employers must report at:
Additional Employer Responsibility
According to the healthcare.gov website, 2014 will bring other new responsibilities for employers, one being the following:
Employer Responsibility:
Under the Affordable Care Act starting in 2014, if an employer with at least 50 full-time equivalent employees doesn't provide affordable health insurance and an employee uses a tax credit to help pay for insurance through an Exchange, the employer must pay a fee to help cover the cost of the tax credits.
The site also provides a timeline of what's changing and when: http://www.healthcare.gov/law/timeline/index.html.
Do You Conduct Background Checks?
As of January 1, 2013, employers must adopt the new FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act) forms. The CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) recently announced that employers must modify their FCRA forms (authorization forms to perform background checks) to make clear that the CFPB, not the FTC (Federal Trade Commission), is the agency that consumers should contact about their rights under the FCRA. This is one of the many changes in response to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 shifting FCRA rule-making authority from the FTC to the new CFPB. Also, the Pre-Adverse and Adverse Action letters must be changed to reflect the new Summary of Rights.
Please don't forget to adjust your forms.
