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Employer Mandate Toolkit
Practical Law Toolkit 6-564-2305 (Approx. 10 pages)
Employer Mandate Toolkit
by Practical Law Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation
| Maintained • USA (National/Federal) |
A collection of resources to help employers comply with the employer mandate under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) employer mandate. The resources in this toolkit address key aspects of the employer mandate and related requirements under the ACA, including information reporting.
Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), large employers may be assessed penalties for:
- Failing to offer minimum essential coverage (MEC) to full-time employees and their dependents.
- Offering eligible employer-sponsored coverage that is not affordable or does not offer minimum value, as defined under implementing guidance issued by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) (see generally Practice Note, Affordable Care Act (ACA) Overview).
As enacted, the ACA's employer mandate was required to apply beginning in 2014 (though the IRS did not impose employer mandate penalties for 2014). Instead, the IRS's employer mandate rules became effective in 2015.
Since late 2017, the IRS has vigorously enforced the employer mandate by issuing assessments on employers that it believes have not complied with the mandate (see Practice Note, Employer Mandate Under the ACA: Penalties and Enforcement). This enforcement activity has continued even as statutory changes and court decisions have rolled back other ACA provisions. (For example, regarding a Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) provision that reduced to zero the ACA's individual mandate payment (see Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) Compliance for Fringe Benefits and Health Plans Toolkit (Pub. L. 115-97 (2017)).)
This Toolkit includes continuously updated resources addressing compliance with the ACA's employer mandate.