When your employee count reaches 50 or more #employees, there are some #ACA and #ObamaCare compliance issues you have to deal with. Even if you have less than 50 full time employees, you still may be subject to the #EmployerMandate. This affects #employers that have over 50 employees, both full time and part time, called #FTE, Full Time Equivalent. It can also occur when you own part of a bunch of businesses and the combined employee total of all of those businesses are over 50. That is called a “Control Group”
A Control Group is when someone owns, even a piece, of many businesses and the employee count reaches 50
The ACA is very specific when it comes to #GroupHealth, the Employer Mandate and what is considered an Applicable Large Employer, or ALE. Whenever a group of businesses are owned by the same person or entity, even partially owned, its called a Control Group. All of the businesses employees are pooled together, and if the total is 50 or more, ALL of the businesses are considered to be a Control Group and one entity in the eyes of the ACA. That means that all of the full time employees must be offered Group Health Insurance at all of those companies. The coverage also has to be deemed affordable to the employee
Employees must be offered “affordable” Health Insurance for the ACA Mandate to be satisfied
The Affordability piece of the ACA is a bit more complicated. There are many formulas to try and figure out exactly what is considered affordable for everyone. One of the simpler ways to calculate this is by using one of the “safe harbors” that the IRS gives employers under section 4980H of the IRS code. The W-2 Safe Harbor is calculated by using the employee’s W-2 wages as a guide. When figuring affordability, the employee cannot spend more than 9.5 of their W-2 wages towards the cost of the Group Health Insurance provided by the employer. There are two other safe harbors, but the W-2 method seems to be the most popular and easy to calculate. Groups are now getting audited from back in 2015 that were out of compliance….and the penalties are staggering.
Make sure your broker is an expert at the #ACA. There is too much liability and confusion to take those kind of risks. Brauer Insurance is one of the leading independent agencies that specializes in #ObamaCare and protecting #SmlBiz. It’s all we do! www.brauerinsurance.com (877) 421-4325