Month: May 2021

REMINDER – PCORI Fees Due July 31, 2021

On By Michelle Turner, MBA, CEBSIn ACA, HRA, self-insuredLeave a comment

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Background:

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) imposes a Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) fee for all self-funded medical plans* ending on or before September 30, 2029. If the plan is fully insured, the insurance carrier pays the fee on behalf of the plan sponsor (employer). If the plan is self-insured, the plan sponsor has the obligation to file Form 720 with the IRS by 7/31/2021.

NOTE: Health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) are considered a self-insured health plan and are subject to PCORI fees. When an employer has an HRA with a fully insured medical plan, it’s considered two separate plans. The carrier pays the PCORI fee for the medical plan and the plan sponsor pays the fee for the HRA. When the employer has an HRA with a self-insured medical plan, they may be treated as one plan for purposes of calculating the PCORI fee.  

*PCORI Fees do not apply to

  • Plans providing HIPAA-excepted benefits e.g. stand-alone dental, vision, health FSAs (if other group health coverage is available and the employer contributes $500 or less)
  • Health Savings Accounts (HSAs)
  • Wellness programs, EAPs, disease management programs that do not provide significant benefits for medical care
  • Stop-loss insurance policies

Calculating the fee:

The amount of PCORI fees due for a self-insured medical plan is based upon the average number of covered lives (i.e. employees, dependents, COBRA participants, and covered retirees) under the self-insured medical plan and the applicable ERISA plan year (see table below).

The amount of PCORI fees due for an HRA is based upon the average number of covered employees (not belly buttons) under the HRA and the applicable plan or policy year.

There are 3 acceptable methods for calculating the average number of covered lives:

  1. Actual Count Method – A plan sponsor may determine the average number of lives covered under a plan for a plan year by adding the totals of lives covered for each day of the plan year and dividing that total by the total number of days in the plan year.
  2. Snapshot Method – A plan sponsor may determine the average number of lives covered under an applicable self-insured health plan for a plan year based on the total number of lives covered on one date (or more dates if an equal number of dates is used in each quarter) during the first, second or third month of each quarter, and dividing that total by the number of dates on which a count was made.
  3. Form 5500 Method – An eligible plan sponsor may determine the average number of lives covered under a plan for a plan year based on the number of participants reported on the Form 5500, Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan, or the Form 5500-SF, Short Form Annual Return/Report of Small Employee Benefit Plan.

Once the average number is calculated, Form 720 is what is used to report and pay to the IRS the amount of the PCORI fee due.

2019 New & Renewal Plan Dates Fee per average covered life When fee must be paid
January 1, 2019 through December 31, 2019 $2.54 July 31, 2020
February 1, 2019 through January 31, 2020 $2.54 July 31, 2021
March 1, 2019 through February 28, 2020 $2.54 July 31, 2021
April 1, 2019 through March 31, 2020 $2.54 July 31, 2021
May 1, 2019 through April 30, 2020 $2.54 July 31, 2021
June 1, 2019 through May 31, 2020 $2.54 July 31, 2021
July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020 $2.54 July 31, 2021
August 1, 2019 through July 31, 2020 $2.54 July 31, 2021
September 1, 2019 through August 31, 2020 $2.54 July 31, 2021
October 1, 2019 through September 30, 2020 $2.54 July 31, 2021
November 1, 2019 through October 31, 2020 $2.66 July 31, 2021
December 1, 2019 through November 30, 2020 $2.66 July 31, 2021
2020 New & Renewal Plan Dates Fee per average covered life When fee must be paid
January 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020 $2.66 July 31, 2021
February 1, 2020 through January 31, 2021 $2.66 July 31, 2022
March 1, 2020 through February 28, 2021 $2.66 July 31, 2022
April 1, 2020 through March 31, 2021 $2.66 July 31, 2022
May 1, 2020 through April 30, 2021 $2.66 July 31, 2022
June 1, 2020 through May 31, 2021 $2.66 July 31, 2022
July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021 $2.66 July 31, 2022
August 1, 2020 through July 31, 2021 $2.66 July 31, 2022
September 1, 2020 through August 31, 2021 $2.66 July 31, 2022
October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021 $2.66 July 31, 2022
November 1, 2020 through September 30, 2029 PCORI fee increases by rate of Medical inflation per average covered life (To be announced)

Tips for completing Form 720 for PCORI fees:

An employer/plan sponsor needs to complete:

  • Company information and quarter ending “June 2021” (e.g. for 2020 plan year filing) – although the fee is paid annually, the tax period for the fee is the 2nd quarter of the year
  • Part II, IRS No. 133 Applicable self-insured health plans
    • Column (a), row (c) if plan ended before October 1, 2020, – enter “Avg. number of lives covered for self-insured health plans”

OR

    • Column (a) row (d) if plan ended on or after October 1, 2020 and before October 1, 2021 – enter “Avg. number of lives covered for self-insured health plans”

AND

    • Column (c) – enter total Fee (lives x $)
  • Part II, Line 2 – enter Total Tax (from calculation in IRS No. 133)
  • Part III, Line 3 – enter Total Tax (from Part II, Line 2)
  • Part III, Line 10 – enter Balance Due (from Part III, Line 3)
  • Signature section
  • Payment voucher with “2nd Quarter” checked,
    • Send the form, payment voucher, and check to:
      Department of the Treasury
      Internal Revenue Service
      Ogden, UT 84201-0009

If you have questions about the above, need help with calculating your PCORI fee obligation, or need help with another employee benefits administration question, please contact The Compliance Rundown. We would love to hear from you!

The Compliance Rundown is not a law firm and cannot dispense legal advice. Anything in this post or on this website is not and should not be construed as legal advice. If you need legal advice, please contact your legal counsel.

When A Cafeteria Plan Mistake Is Discovered – The Solution Is Not Universal

On By Michelle Turner, MBA, CEBSIn Cafeteria plans, eligibilityLeave a comment
Mistakes happen
Cafeteria plan mistakes happen. How are they corrected?

Regardless of how excellent an employer’s cafeteria plan administrative processes are, it’s not uncommon for oversights to occur. Whether it’s discovering the wrong amount of premiums being deducted during a payroll audit, an employee is enrolled in a benefit plan different from what they signed up for during open enrollment, or an HSA contribution was missed. Mistakes happen!

Unfortunately, neither IRS regulations nor the Code sections which govern cafeteria plans provide guidance. There are IRS publications and a Chief Counsel Advice memorandum which address correction for a few specific areas (e.g., Form W-2 corrections, improper health FSA reimbursements), however, other mistakes, in general, the IRS has not provided information nor a standardized process for correcting.

What Is An Employer To Do?

It is our experience, the best way to correct a mistake is to put the employee and the plan back into the position they would have been in had the mistake never occurred. Failure to do so could disqualify the entire cafeteria plan! This could mean employees’ pretax elections suddenly become gross income to employees, and they would be required to pay all the employment and income taxes that go along with it.

The specific correction will depend on the facts and circumstances (e.g., what type of mistake was made and was it discovered before, during, or after the plan year).

Example: Four months after open enrollment, an employer discovers an employee was enrolled in the correct benefits with the carriers, but somehow the wrong employee pretax deductions occurred and too little premium was withheld. The employer would want to let the employee know an oversight occurred and depending on the amount of the money needed to be made up, either ask for the employee to pay the entire amount or perhaps have double-premiums deducted until the shortfall is corrected.

Employers should make a reasonable good faith effort to correct past errors and document everything (e.g. date the failure was discovered, the decision made & why, the process to correct & steps to ensure won’t occur going forward). 

If an employer is audited, their documentation could explain how the mistake occurred, show it was an honest mistake, that once realized corrective steps were taken to fix it in the least disruptive way. It will also outline the procedures implemented to ensure the mistake didn’t occur again. This could show an employer acted in good faith and was never intentionally trying to circumvent the tax code.

Note: Correcting payroll errors involves a variety of federal & state laws. Prior to implementing corrections, be sure all federal & state wage/tax laws are considered. Contact an experienced benefits attorney before implementing corrective measures if uncertainty exists.

Do you wish you had someone to bounce your situation off of? We’re here to explain complex compliance issues in layman’s terms. Contact us today. Let’s discuss your compliance needs.

The Compliance Rundown is not a law firm and cannot dispense legal advice. Anything contained in this post or on their website is not and should not be construed as legal advice. If you need legal advice, please contact your legal counsel.

WARNING: Keeping an Employee on Benefits When They Are Not Actively at Work Is Risky

On By Michelle Turner, MBA, CEBSIn COBRA, eligibility, leave of absence, self-insured1 Comment
Employers who are trying to be generous by keeping employees on their benefits plan, may be making a costly mistake.

There are eligibility rules known as “actively at work clauses” for employer group benefits including medical, dental, vision, life, and disability. These provisions allow the insurer to exclude coverage for employees who are not working a minimum number of hours each week, such as when they are on a leave of absence because of an illness or furloughed.

If you have a fully insured plan, the carriers define the rules on how long an employee who is on an unprotected leave of absence (e.g., not out due to a reason covered by the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)) may remain on the plan before coverage must be terminated and continuation coverage (e.g., COBRA) offered. If you are self-insured, it is a conversation that should have been discussed when creating plan documents with the stop-loss carrier.

If an employer does not follow this provision and fails to terminate an employee and offer them continuation coverage, then the carrier may not cover any claims, leaving the employer financially responsible. It has been my experience, although the carrier leaves eligibility verification up to the employer, before paying a large claim, many carriers are thorough and review an employee’s status by asking for payroll records.

There is no standard rule for when an employee who is not actively at work must be terminated from active coverage. Often, for ease of administration, carriers will permit an employee to remain on the plan for up to 12 weeks to be the same as a protected leave of absence under the FMLA. However, an employer must check their plan documents and never assume. Once the employee no longer meets the definition of actively working, the employer should terminate the employee and offer continuation coverage. This includes providing port/covert paperwork for life and disability coverage.

If you have questions about the above, or need help with another employee benefits administration question, please contact The Compliance Rundown. We would love to hear from you!

The Compliance Rundown is not a law firm and cannot dispense legal advice. Anything in this post or on this website is not and should not be construed as legal advice. If you need legal advice, please contact your legal counsel.

Summer Is Almost Here. Do We Have To Offer Our Interns Benefits?

On By Michelle Turner, MBA, CEBSIn ACA, eligibilityLeave a comment
Are interns eligible for benefits?

The term “intern” is a common word which most everyone understands is a person who works (sometimes unpaid) for a temporary period of time for a company.  The classification of “intern” however, is not something recognized by the ACA. They are not defined for ACA purposes. Rather, for an Applicable Large Employer (ALE) to avoid exposure to the employer shared responsibility penalties, all their W-2 employees should be classified on their start date as either full-time (FT), part-time (PT), variable hour (VH), or seasonal depending on the facts and offered benefits accordingly.

Can’t an intern just be classified as seasonal?

Although it is true, the ACA does not require an ALE to offer coverage to a “seasonal” employee, seasonal is not synonymous with ‘intern’ so it is imperative to understand how the ACA defines seasonal, to avoid exposure to penalties.

Per Treas. Reg. 54.4980H-1(a)(38) the term seasonal employee means “an employee who is hired into a position for which the customary annual employment is six months or less”. 

“Customary” means “that by the nature of the position an employee in this position typically works for a period of six months or less, and that period should begin each calendar year in approximately the same part of the year, such as summer or winter” [Emphasis added].

Examples:

  • Ski resort instructor hired each year from November until March
  • A cattle ranch who hires extra ranch hands during foaling season, April – Sept.

However, there are no special pay or play rules for internships. Therefore, when deciding how to classify an “intern”, a key part of the seasonal definition that needs to be considered is “approximately the same part of the year”.

An employer who only hires temporary, full-time positions (i.e. interns) at a specific time of the year (e.g., summer) and they work for less than six months, it may be possible to classify them as seasonal. However, an employer who hires interns at various times of the year, those interns may not satisfy the seasonal definition.

Why does it matter?

An ALE mislabeling their interns as seasonal and not offering coverage for any month in which they were required to be treated as full-time, may face ACA non-compliance penalties. i.e. If the interns are less than 5% of the employee population, $338.33 per month, the §4980H(b) penalty in 2021. If they make up over 5%, there is exposure to the §4980H(a) penalty, 1/12($2,700) per month x total number of full-time employees minus 30.

It is possible under the right circumstances for an intern to be seasonal, however, an intern is not synonymous with a seasonal employee.

Employee Benefits

If interns are hired with the intent to work 30 or more hours a week on average, then they are full-time employees, even if their employment is temporary.  Thus, for an ALE to avoid a shared responsibility penalty, they would need to be offered ACA compatible coverage after the applicable waiting period, but no later than their 91st day of employment.

Options to Consider

  1. Exclude interns from coverage (if they make up fewer than 5% of the employer’s full-time population) and accept the risk exposure to the §4980H(b) penalty for any month in which the intern is required to be treated full-time.
  2. Offer interns the same coverage as permanent, full-time employees. (Many interns, if they are college students may be on their parent’s insurance and are uninterested in paying for their own coverage.)
  3. Establish a separate class for interns with a longer waiting period than the permanent, full-time employees (e.g., the 91st date of employment) with the intent of the intern not working longer than 90 days and never becoming eligible for benefits.*

*Note: This option requires carrier approval (some carrier’s systems are not set up to handle mid-month enrollment, nor prorate premiums) and the employer would want to continue to perform applicable nondiscrimination testing to ensure it doesn’t negatively affect the testing.

FT, PT, VH, or seasonal are the only classification options for ACA purposes. Mis-classifying an intern (i.e. failing to treat them as FT for ACA purposes) may expose an ALE to ACA penalties.

If you have a question, we are here to help! Let us end your employee benefits compliance confusion. Send us an email today!

The Compliance Rundown is not a law firm and cannot dispense legal advice. Anything contained in this post or on their website is not and should not be construed as legal advice. If you need legal advice, please contact your legal counsel.