Wednesday, July 31, 2013

How You Could Still Owe An Employer Mandate Fine Despite the "Suspension"

This is from John Graham, a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) who has completed all three levels of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) program writing Obamacare's Employer Mandate Delay Creates Two Big Problems at Forbes

[E]mployers need to be aware that they are offered only “transition relief” for next year. IRS Notice 2013-45 states that employers are “encouraged to voluntarily comply with the information reporting provisions for 2014.” Although political analysis suggests that the “relief” will roll over to future years, the Notice waives only reporting requirements. Treasury cannot waive the actual tax.

As a result, there may be little relief even from “red tape”. Will auditors grant relief from reporting a tax liability to businesses which owe the tax in 2014? This should be a topic of intense discussion within the accounting profession. If the profession sticks to the letter of the law, auditors will demand that businesses prepare good-faith calculations of taxes due to the employer mandate, and not to write them off until legislation really “fixes” the problem. This should concern not only small business, but large businesses with low-wage hourly workers or franchisees.