July 7, 2015
What is the Home Office Deduction?
Under New York State law, businesses with fewer than fifty full time employees are not legally mandated to provide a company health insurance plan. Employers with fifty or more full...
Under New York State law, businesses with fewer than fifty full time employees are not legally mandated to provide a company health insurance plan. Employers with fifty or more full time employees that chose not to offer coverage could face financial penalties imposed by the Affordable Care Act’s Employer Shared Responsibility (ESR) provision. However, for employers with fewer than fifty employees, providing health insurance could result in many benefits for your business including increased employee satisfaction and loyalty, in addition to tax breaks.
Under the ESR provision, noncomplying employers would be forced to pay $2,000 per uninsured employee- not counting the first 30 fulltime employees. For instance, if an employer of 75 chose not to provide insurance, they would be fined $2,000 each for 45 employees. Typically, plans are required to cover at least 60% the cost of each health care service or treatment, if not more.
Additionally, if you have a workforce of fewer than fifty employees, there may be benefits conferred on your business by offering insurance. For example, health benefits may offer an incentive to attract more skilled employees to your company. The employees may also be inclined to remain with the company longer, and will generally be happier and healthier than those who are not afforded such benefits. Under the Affordable Care Act, employees are still required to have health insurance, so providing it for them is a way to give your business a competitive edge over other businesses who do not offer such benefits.
For more information regarding the tax benefits for companies offering health insurance, click here.
If you have questions about what kinds of benefits your business should be providing to its employees, contact an experienced business attorney who can best advise you regarding health insurance, and other legal matters concerning your business. Call the business attorneys at Bellavia Blatt, PC at (516) 873-3000 or (631) 224-7000.