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Health Care Reform W-2 Reporting Delayed

The IRS has provided a brief respite for employers when it comes to Health Care Reform compliance.  On October 12th,  the IRS announced that they are delaying the implementation of reporting employer-sponsored health plan costs on W-2 forms for one year.  Initially, employers were required to begin reporting the plan cost amounts on the 2011 W-2 forms (to be issued in January, 2012.)  However, employers had to be prepared to report the plan costs as early as February, 2011 in the event that any terminating employees requested an early 2011 W-2. 
 
Now, employers will have additional time to work with their payroll vendors to collect and report on the data necessary to be in compliance for the 2012 tax year. As a reminder, the value of the benefits being reported on the 2012 W-2 form is informational only – the benefits are not taxable to the employee.
 
It is expected that more guidance will be provided by the Health and Human Services Department as well as the IRS on exactly how to calculate plan costs.  In the meantime, employers who would like to review a draft of the revised W-2 and the corresponding instructions, can visit the IRS website at www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/draft_w-2.pdf.

For more information, click here for Banyan's Health Care Reform Update on W-2 Reporting.