IRS Releases 2015 Employer's Tax Guide to Fringe Benefits

The IRS has released the 2015 version of  Publication 15-B (Employer's Tax Guide to Fringe Benefits), with information for employers on the employment tax treatment of various fringe benefits, including accident and health coverage, adoption assistance, company cars (and other employer-provided vehicles), dependent care assistance, educational assistance, employee discount programs, group term life insurance, moving expense reimbursements, HSAs, and transportation (commuting) benefits. 
 

The 2015 guidelines are substantially similar to the 2014 version but with updated benefit limits and definitions. Read more 

Individual Penalties For The Uninsured

With the passage of the Affordable Care Act, most people are required to have health insurance or they may have to pay a penalty. Even though this information has been highly publicized, many people remain confused by the sign-up process and may not realize penalties incurred in 2014 until they start completing their 2014 tax returns.

With the deadline to enroll just weeks away, this Premera article sheds light on the real cost of not having a health plan. It includes a tax penalty calculator to estimate the cost of future penalties. 

Proposed Regulations on 2016 Benefit and Payment Parameters

2016 Reinsurance Fee Contribution Amount

The Reinsurance Fee applies to insured and self-funded group health plans for calendar years 2014 through 2016. The 2015 fee amount of $44 was announced previously. The proposed fee for 2016 is $27 per covered individual.

Insured expatriate plans do not have to pay the Reinsurance Fee. The regulations propose that self-insured expatriate plans will not be required to pay the Reinsurance Fee for 2015 and 2016.

 Cost-Sharing Limits

The proposed plan year cost-sharing maximums for 2016 are $6,850 for self-only coverage and $13,700 for family coverage. Insurers are permitted, but not required, to count out-of-network costs toward the annual cost-sharing limits.

Fact Sheet

No Means No In Regards to Employer Funding of Individual Plans

The Obama Administration released two new key pieces of health reform regulatory guidance, including a series of FAQs that even further clarify the Administration's preexisting position that if an employer creates some type of premium reimbursement arrangement to pay for health coverage, then that arrangement is subject to all federal health law market reform requirements, even if the reimbursement is for individual insurance coverage premiums.

The Administration's guidance clarifies that such arrangements are subject to the group market reform provisions of the Affordable Care and that such employer healthcare arrangements will not violate these market reform provisions when integrated with a group health plan that complies with such provisions. However, an employer healthcare arrangement cannot be integrated with individual market policies to satisfy the market reforms. Consequently, such an arrangement may be subject to penalties, including excise taxes under section 4980D of the Internal Revenue Code.

Attached are highlights of the FAQs.

Secrets of People Who Don't Get Sick

It's tempting to dismiss it as luck: Some people might catch a slight cold or suffer an occasional ache or pain now and then, but they never seem to suffer from flus, fevers and illnesses that send the rest of us diving under the covers for days. Despite centuries of scientific advances, doctors still can't tell us definitively how to stay well. So why not look for solutions from the people for whom the common cold is, well, uncommon? Here are 10 surprising habits of those people who never get sick and how you can adapt them to your own soon-to-be healthier life.