IRS Publishes Proposed Employer Shared Responsibility Regulations

The Internal Revenue Service has released its much-anticipated proposed regulations governing the shared responsibility provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The IRS also has released a set of questions and answers that provide additional detail on these requirements. The ACA included a new section 4980H to the Internal Revenue Code that implements the employer shared responsibility or "pay or play" employer mandates. As of January 1, 2014, employers with 50 or more full-time employees (including full-time equivalent employees) generally will be required to offer at least 95% of their full-time employees (and their dependents) "minimal essential" health benefit coverage or pay a penalty if any full-time employee receives a federal subsidy to purchase insurance through a health exchange. This penalty will be $2,000 for each full-time employee in excess of 30 employees. Covered employers that fail to provide minimum value (i.e., the plan's share of the