FINANCE

Employers Can Earn a Tax Credit Equal to 40% of a New Hire’s First-Year Wages The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is reminding employers planning to hire new workers that the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) may be available to those who hire long-term unemployment recipients and others certified by their state workforce agency. WOTC Explained […]

Model Notices Previously Expired on April 30, 2017 The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) has extended the effective date of its model Health Insurance Exchange Notices through May 31, 2017. Previously, these model notices expired on April 30, 2017. No other changes have been made to these notices. Click here to […]

Penalty Letters Separate & Distinct From Marketplace Notices The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced that it expects the letters informing applicable large employers (ALEs) that filed Forms 1094-C and 1095-C of their potential liability for a “pay or play” payment for the 2015 calendar year (with reporting in 2016) to be issued in 2017. […]

Impacted Forms I-9 Downloaded Between November 14 and 17, 2016 Employers who used a version of Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, that was downloaded between November 14 and November 17, 2016 should review those forms to ensure their employees’ Social Security numbers appear correctly in Section 1 of the form. Social Security Number Glitch U.S. […]

Q&As Also Address Offers of Coverage Under ‘Pay or Play’ The IRS has updated its existing Q&As on the Affordable Care Act’s employer shared responsibility (“pay or play”) requirements to reflect adjustments to the pay or play penalty and affordability amounts. Those adjustments are as follows: For calendar year 2017, the applicable per-employee dollar penalties […]

IRS Offers Tips on Filing After April 18, Checking Refund Status, and Changing Withholding While tax day has come and gone for most people, some taxpayers may still be dealing with their federal taxes. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) offers the following tips for handling some typical after-tax-day issues. Filing After the April 18 Deadline […]

QSEHRAs Must Satisfy Certain Requirements As a reminder, a recent law allows certain small employers to offer new “qualified small employer health reimbursement arrangements” (QSEHRAs) to reimburse employees for qualified medical expenses, including individual health insurance premiums. Background Under prior agency guidance, stand-alone HRAs (except for retiree-only HRAs and HRAs consisting solely of excepted benefits) […]

Affordability, Tax Filing Threshold, and Other Exemptions Available Under the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) ”individual mandate” (also called individual shared responsibility) provision, every individual must have minimum essential health coverage for each month, qualify for an exemption, or make a payment when filing his or her federal income tax return. Among other exemptions, individuals may […]

Yesterday, we here at Applied Resource Insurance Solutions, hosted a 401(k) Luncheon Seminar at the Paseo Club in Valencia, CA. Our two keynote speakers were remarkable, and engaged the entire room. Thad Letzer, the managing director of Mass Mutual, presented a Mass Mutual presentation on understanding what you’re investing into. And James Schramm, a financial […]

Decision Reverses Previously Announced Policy Pursuant to a recent executive order, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will continue to accept for processing tax returns in instances where a taxpayer does not indicate his or her health coverage status. Background The Affordable Care Act requires individual taxpayers to indicate on their IRS Form 1040 whether they […]