On November 18th, 2016, the IRS announced a deadline extension that may benefit employers that need to comply with the Affordable Care Act’s Employer Reporting Requirements. Here are the main two changes that were announced: The due date for distributing Form 1095-C documents to employees has been extended from January 31, 2017 to March 2, [...]
Continue Reading →Under the Affordable Care Act, employers that sponsor certain self-insured group health plans are subject to the Transitional Reinsurance Program. (For a detailed overview,all clients are encouraged to log-in to the CBGconnect portal and download our Compliance Bulletin.) The information below highlights two key steps that your company may need to take regarding the upcoming November 15th, 2016 deadline. [...]
Continue Reading →Will your company be including a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) plan within its employee benefits program for 2017? If so, it’s important to note the the IRS has increased the annual contribution limit. The IRS has set the FSA dollar limit on employee salary reduction contributions to $2,600 for taxable years beginning in 2017. Steps [...]
Continue Reading →On September 30th, 2016, the IRS published final versions of Form 1094-C, Form 1095-C, and the final 2016 Instructions. Generally, these forms will be used by employers to report offers of health insurance coverage made to their full-time employees during the 2016 calendar year. There were only minor changes made to the 2016 version of [...]
Continue Reading →To help your company educate its employees about wellness-related topics, we are happy to share the October 2016 edition of our “Live Well, Work Well” newsletter. It covers topics dealing with prevention strategies, safety, physical injuries, nutrition, and more. The specific articles within the October 2016 edition of “Live Well, Work Well” include: Breast Cancer [...]
Continue Reading →Effective as of July 14, 2016, a new law in Massachusetts requires private employers with 50 or more employees to provide paid leave to any veteran desiring to participate in a Veterans Day exercise, parade, or service in his or her community of residence. Employers must allow these employees enough time to participate in these types of events in the community where [...]
Continue Reading →For 2015, employers had extra time to complete their Section 6056 and Section 6055 reporting thanks to transition relief from the IRS. Of course, even with that extra time, there were still many challenges faced by employers and vendors regarding producing the forms and communicating the impact to employees. Regarding the need to next report [...]
Continue Reading →The Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued an interim final rule that increases the penalty amounts that may be imposed under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). These increases, which were designed to account for inflation, are associated with penalties for: Failing to file an annual Form 5500 Failing to provide the annual notice [...]
Continue Reading →An updated model notice for employers to provide information on eligibility for premium assistance under Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) is now available for download. The notice is current as of July 31, 2016. It includes details on how employees can contact their state for additional information regarding these programs and how [...]
Continue Reading →In preparation for the Medicare fall open enrollment period, employers that sponsor group health plans that include prescription drug coverage are required to notify all Medicare-eligible individuals whether such coverage is creditable. This year, plan sponsors must provide the annual disclosure notice to Medicare-eligible individuals by October 14, 2016. The creditable coverage disclosure notice must [...]
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