What Employers With Fewer Than 50 Employees Need to Know About the Affordable Care Act

As a business owner, the number of people you employed during the last year determines which portions of the health care law apply to your business. If you have fewer than 50 full-time employees, including full-time equivalent employees, there are three key items you should know about how the Affordable Care Act affects you.

Information Reporting
If you offer employer-sponsored, self-insured health coverage to your employees, you will use Form 1095-B, Health Coverage Information Return to report information to covered individuals about each person enrolled in coverage. The deadline for filing this form with the IRS is February 28, 2017, or March 31, 2017 if filing electronically. The deadline for furnishing this form to the covered individual is March 2, 2017, which is a 30-day extension from the original due date of January 31.

Tax Credit
You may be eligible for the small business health care tax credit if you meet all of the following conditions. You:

• cover at least 50 percent of employees’ premium costs
• have fewer than 25 full-time equivalent employees
• pay average annual wages per full-time equivalent employee of less than $52,000 in tax year 2016
• purchase coverage through the SHOP Marketplace

Shared Responsibility Payment
If you employ fewer than 50 full-time employees, including full-time equivalent employees, you are not subject to the employer shared responsibility provisions.