Health plans with 100 or more plan participants at the beginning of a plan year are generally required to furnish a Summary Annual Report (SAR) to each health plan participant within 9 months after the end of a plan year. As a result, the deadline for most calendar year plans to satisfy the SAR requirement for plan year 2017 is September 30, 2018.
Group health plan administrators are reminded that Form 5500, Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan, must be filed with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) by the last day of the seventh month after the plan year ends. For calendar-year plans, that due date falls on July 31.
Under HIPAA, certain events that happen to employees or their dependents trigger a right to "special enroll" in an employer-sponsored group health plan. Special enrollment allows individuals who previously declined health coverage to enroll for coverage outside of a plan's open enrollment period. To learn more, please read this HR News Alert.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has released a new Publication 969 (Health Savings Accounts and Other Tax-Favored Health Plans), which contains information for use in preparing 2017 tax returns.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced that 2018 annual limitation on HSA contributions by individuals with family coverage under a high deductible health plan (HDHP) is now $6,850.
The Medicare Modernization Act requires employers that provide prescription drug coverage to Medicare-eligible individuals to complete the Online Disclosure Form to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to report whether such coverage is creditable prescription drug coverage. Creditable coverage means that the coverage is expected to pay, on average, as much as the standard Medicare prescription drug coverage.
President Trump has signed into law the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which, among other things, eliminates tax breaks for several fringe benefits and creates a new tax credit for employers offering paid family and medical leave.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced a number of inflation-adjusted tax items for 2018, some of which remain unchanged. Among other items, the annual dollar limit on employee contributions to employer-sponsored health flexible spending arrangements (FSAs) increases to $2,650 (up from $2,600).
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced a number of inflation-adjusted tax items for 2017, some of which remain unchanged. Among other items, the annual dollar limit on employee contributions to employer-sponsored health flexible spending arrangements (FSAs) rises to $2,600 (up from $2,550 in 2016).
A recent Internal Revenue Service (IRS) memorandum clarifies whether certain employer payments paid to an employee for participating in a wellness program, such as cash rewards and premium reimbursements (if the premiums were originally made by salary reduction through a cafeteria plan), are excludable from the employee's gross income.
