Michigan Health insurance exchanges open

Michigan Health Form 1095-bHealth insurance exchanges will open October 1 when Obamacare will begin to take full effect.

Most small businesses, with 50 or fewer full-time employees, are not required to offer health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Companies with more than 50 full-time employees have to provide health insurance, but they have been given a reprieve with the one-year delay of the employer mandate.

All small businesses will notify their employees about the health insurance exchanges and their options for coverage.

Employers must give a (Notice of Exchange Coverage Options) document to all employees by October 1. Businesses that don’t provide this notice could be subject to penalties. Employers must provide a notice of coverage options to each employee, regardless of plan enrollment status (if applicable) or part-time or full-time status. Employees that start after the October 1 deadline need to get the notice within 14 days.

Who has to fill out the health form?

Any business with at least one employee must fulfill the notification requirement.

Business must provide this information to all employees:

  • What the Health Insurance Marketplace is.
  • Contact information and description of the services provided by the Insurance Marketplace.
  • That the employee may be eligible for a premium tax credit under section 36B of the Internal Revenue Code if the employee purchases a qualified health plan through the Health Insurance Marketplace.
  • A statement informing the employee that if he or she purchases a qualified health plan through the Health Insurance Marketplace, he or she may lose the employer contribution (if any) to any health benefits plan offered by the employer and that all or a portion of such contribution may be excluded from income for federal income tax purposes.

Other Health Changes Affecting Businesses 

  • Medicare payroll tax on wages and self-employment income more than $200,000 ($250,000 joint) will increase by 0.9 percent.
  • Medicare investment tax imposes a new 3.8 percent tax on investment income for higher-income taxpayers.
  • Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) has a limit of a maximum of $2,500 annual contribution.
  • Employers will have to report the cost of employee health benefits on W-2s for the tax year 2012.  Until the IRS issues additional regulations, employers that file less than 250 Form W-2s may voluntarily report this information, but they will not require it until they issue until further rules.
  • The threshold at which medical expenses, as a percentage of income, are deductible increases to 10 percent, from 7.5 percent.

As of 2017 Form, 1095 (the proof of insurance coverage) deadline for filing has moved up to January 31 to ensure your employees get this form just like their W-2. Forms 1094B and 1095A, B, and C are due by February 28 via mail or March 31 electronically.