Taxation of employer-provided health benefits is often a misunderstood topic especially in the years after implementation of the Affordable Care Act market reform provisions. Yet the fundamental tax treatment of health plans and health benefits has not changed in decades.
Four key factual issues now control the tax treatment of employer-provided health benefits under U.S. law:
- Whether the health benefit was provided through insurance or outside of insurance,
- If provided through insurance, whether the insurance was ACA compliant, exempted, or non-compliant,
- Whether the employer’s health plan meets legal requirements. (I used to write “whether an employer plan exists” but now presume that all employer-provided health benefits are part of a “plan” for tax purposes,
- Whether the benefit involved employee contributions as a salary reduction.
There are different components of tax law to consider that affect employer-provided health benefits including:
- Deductibility of the expense by the employer under IRC Section 162 (ordinary business expenses). Almost all employee health plan expenses do qualify as an ordinary tax-deductible business expense for the employer.
- Taxability of benefits to the employee, as determined by IRC Section 3121 (definition of wages). In the past almost all employer-provided health benefits were received tax-free by the employee but this is no longer presumed to be the case following implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
- Excise taxes imposed on non-compliant employer health plans under IRC Section 4980D. This is the new ‘hot issue’ for employers in 2014 following implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Many employer health plans are subject to a new 10% excise penalty
, a few will be subject to much higher penalty amounts.
- Taxation for FICA and FUTA and state income taxes. This tax treatment may be different than the tax treatment for federal income taxes.
There are many resources available for tax advisers and business owners. A few are listed here:
IRS – Koupit Priligy