Last week, the House Committee on Ways and Means released a tax reform bill, entitled the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The bill focuses on changes to corporate and individual tax provisions, but it also includes some items applicable to HR and employee benefits.
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The Internal Revenue Service released the annual inflation adjustments that will apply to certain benefit plan tax provisions in 2018. Revenue Procedure 2017-58, which can be accessed by clicking here, identifies inflation-adjusted items for different provisions of the tax code. From an employee benefits standpoint, the following limits may be of interest to employers:
The individual mandate provisions of the Affordable Care Act require every taxpayer to (a) have qualifying health coverage; (b) qualify for an exemption from having health coverage; or (c) pay a tax penalty. Individuals use their 1040 tax returns to identify their individual mandate health coverage status to the government. All individuals must check a box on the 1040 to indicate compliance with the indivdiual mandate.
In the aftermath of two of the strongest hurricanes in history, employers are seeking ways to help those impacted. The IRS has sanctioned programs that allow employees to donate the value of their sick, vacation or other paid time off (PTO) to victims of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma without facing tax consequences.
Friday, December 23, 2011, President Obama signed a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut memorialized in a bill passed by both the House and the Senate. House Republicans had rejected a similar bill earlier in the week, but passed the legislation after minor tweaks and mounting political pressure.
Today, the House rejected legislation to extend a payroll tax cut and jobless benefits for two months. Read More...
This morning, the U.S. Senate approved, in an 89-10 vote, a two-month extension of the payroll-tax break and federal unemployment insurance. The Senate's 89-10 vote will allow workers to continue paying a reduced 4.2% of their earnings to fund Social Security for the first two months of 2012.
