The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Affordable Care
Act or ACA) places various new reporting and disclosure
requirements on employers, group health plans, and plan
administrators. One such ACA requirement relates to reporting the
cost of employer-sponsored health coverage on the Form W-2, Wage
and Tax Statement. Employers have been uncertain regarding many
aspects of the statute, such as whether all employers must comply,
what types of plans must be considered, and how much flexibility
employers have in calculating the cost of health coverage.
Recently, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Notice
2011-28 (the Notice), which provides needed guidance on the new
Form W-2 reporting requirements. This guidance generally is
applicable to calendar year 2012 Forms W-2 (which will be issued in
January 2013), although employers may voluntarily report coverage
for calendar year 2011 using the guidance. This LawFlash describes
the relevant provisions of the ACA
