The IRS issued an informational letter on the tax treatment of qualified transportation benefits, specifically the use of transit passes and qualified parking that employers frequently provide through the use of smartcards...
From the KS Health and Welfare Team: On Monday, the DOL released additional rules with respect to the Federal external appeal procedures. These procedures apply to non-grandfathered self-insured health plans. The procedures include a number of troubling administrative and legal issues for plans and plan sponsors, and unfortunately there is little time to manage them.
Walgreens has recently announced their intention to implement the SIGIS IIAS standard by the end of the year. As you know, Walgreens has applied their own proprietary IIAS system for years and has been fully compliant with IRS requirements.
Health Care Reform is now reality, and the new law is going to have significant impact Section 125 Plans and Pre Tax Reimbursement Accounts including Health Flexible Spending accounts (Health FSA's), Health Reimbursement accounts (HRA's) and Health Savings Accounts (HSA's).
The Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Labor, and Treasury issued interim final regulations on July 14, 2010 requiring new plans and issuers to cover certain preventive services without any cost-sharing for the enrollee when delivered by in-network providers. The interim final regulations do not apply to grandfathered plans and issuers. This website provides links to the items and services that must be covered under this interim final regulation. It is organized by the recommending body.
Note: On June 14, Departments of Treasury, Labor and Health and Human Services released interim final regulations on the grandfather status. A complete review of these regulations will be released shortly. In the meantime, the Department of Labor has released a series of questions and answers.
A draft version of the interim final rule for “grandfathered” health plans was accidentally leaked last Friday when it was posted on a government web site. The draft, which is no longer on the website, was issued by the departments of the Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services. The draft was pulled down within a few hours of its accidental posting after the draft (see page 50) was reported to estimate that about 51 percent of all employer health plans will have to relinquish their grandfather status by 2013.
Posted On: Jun. 08, 2010 11:58 AM CENTRAL by Jerry Geisel
WASHINGTON—Senate Democratic leaders unveiled a revamped tax bill Tuesday that, like a House-passed measure, omits an extension of federal COBRA premium subsidies for laid-off employees.
Congress failed in its efforts before Memorial Day to pass a nearly $200 billion package that would have extended unemployment benefits and other expiring provisions, including ARRA’s COBRA subsidy program. The 15 months of federally subsidized COBRA premiums for involuntary terminations of employment that needed to occur by May 31, 2010, came to an end
The IRS has just issued Revenue Procedure 2010-22, which provides the 2011 cost-of-living contribution and coverage adjustments for HSAs, as required under Code Section 223(g). The limits for 2011 remain unchanged from 2010.
Compliance and RegulatoryFlexible SpendingHealth Care Reform
The IRS has released a notice which allows Cafeteria Plans to offer coverage to adult children to age 27, even if those children are not tax qualified dependents of the employee. The coverage is retroactive to March 30th 2010. In order to adopt this provision, employers must amend their Section 125 plan documents to reflect the offering to adult children to age 27.
Congressional Budget Office estimates released Tuesday predict the health care overhaul will likely cost about $115 billion more in discretionary spending over ten years than the original cost projections. The additional spending - if approved
Within Section 9003 of the PPACA health reform law, IRS Code was amended so that over-the-counter (OTC) drugs will no longer be reimbursable unless they are prescribed by a physician as of Jan. 1, 2011. This prohibition affects health Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs), Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs), Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and Archer Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs).
The IRS released Revenue Ruling 2010-13 which includes the average premium for the small group market when determining the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit. The credit was created as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ("PPACA"), as amended, which helps small businesses afford the cost of covering their employees.
In the recently decided case of Dorsey v. Holman, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 41295 (D.D.C. Apr. 27, 2010) a Washington D.C. law firm terminated their employee, Debra Dorsey, after a year of disability-related leave. The employee elected COBRA in late 2008. Subsequently, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2008 (ARRA) was passed in February, 2009, and the employee made the request to her employer to be provided the subsidy following a conversation with a DOL official who confirmed her eligibility for the subsidy.
