Health Care Law Alert: Employer Pay-or-Play Rules Under ACA Pushed Back to 2015

The effective date for imposing employer pay-or-play penalties (also known "shared responsibility payments") will be delayed by the IRS until 2015, according to an announcement made on a blog yesterday by Mark Mazur, Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy at the Treasury Department. These penalties, which could be imposed on employers with 50 or more employees who did not offer health coverage to their full-time (30 hours a week or more) employees, were scheduled to be effective beginning in 2014. Also delayed were reporting requirements imposed by ACA on employers, insurers and group health plans, which required reporting to the federal government and state insurance exchanges or marketplaces. The blog stated that this delay would not affect any other provisions of the ACA, including the federal tax subsidies available to lower income households, known as premium tax credits. These premium tax credits will help pay the premiums for health insurance purchased at the state and federal insurance exchanges or marketplaces set up under the ACA.

The IRS is expected to issue official guidance next week. We will update readers on the guidance once it becomes available.

The blog post can be found at http://www.treasury.gov/connect/blog/Pages/Continuing-to-Implement-the-ACA-in-a-Careful-Thoughtful-Manner-.aspx