Affordable Care Act
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or colloquially as “Obamacare,” was signed into law in March of 2010 with the goal of increasing the quality and affordability of health insurance for millions of Americans.
While the Act’s employer shared responsibility payments will not apply until 2015, and in some cases, not until 2016, there are provisions and safe harbors to consider and decisions that can be made now that may help businesses, employees and a business’s bottom line. Further, there are many unintended consequences arising out of the ACA that business owners, both large and small, need to consider when administering health care arrangements.
We are carefully following the developments associated with the roll-out of ACA and are providing counsel to business owners and other professionals, helping them to address compliance issues, evaluate exposure to penalties and other tax issues as well as planning strategically for the future.
Affordable Care Act Articles
Ordinary and Necessary Compensation
A question was recently asked in the St. Louis Small Business Monthly by a reader who wondered whether or not he was missing the bus by not reducing his salary to a low amount, thereby being able to take more as an S-corporation distribution. We wrote about this issue...
Subdivision Can’t Have It Both Ways
A recent decision by the Missouri Court of Appeals addresses the tricky situation where a subdivision, unable to supply an amenity in sufficient quantity and quality to all of the lot owners, makes construction of new homes expressly conditioned on those lot owners...
New Level of Proof Required for Retaliation Claims, says U.S. Supreme Court
With the United States Supreme Court’s term having recently come to a close, the Court has issued an opinion concerning what an employee must prove to prevail in a retaliation lawsuit for discrimination based upon the protected classes of race, color, religion, sex...
U.S. Supreme Court Issues Major Ruling Regarding Employment Discrimination
Under the federal discrimination laws, such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, courts have reached different conclusions as to whether a particular employee was a “supervisor.” The distinction is important. In a workplace harassment suit under Title VII, where an...
