HRA Administration for Small Business - HRA Plan Docs

Employee Statuses The Qualified Small Employer HRA requires that the benefit be offered to all Full-Time Permanant employees that work an average of 30 hours per week. What does that mean? How does one know if an employee has to be included? In this section we will answer those questions by defining employee statuses. Full-Time Employee A full-time employee is an individual reasonably expected to work at least 30 hours per week. For this purpose, “hours” include each hour for which an employee is paid or entitled to payment for performing duties for the employer or entitled to payment even if no work is done (e.g. holiday, vacation or sick time). Employees with variable hours may also be considered fulltime, benefits eligible employees if they work an average of 30 hours or more per week during a look-back measurement period. Temporary (short-term) employees and seasonal employees may also be considered full time. Variable Hour Employees The ACA defines an empl...

All HRA plans, from the Single Participant 105 plan to the Qualified Small Employer HRA, function in similar ways. Over the years employers have begun to realize the value of the HRA as a total replacement strategy What is a Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA)? There are two families of HRA, traditional Section 105 HRAs and Qualified Small Employer 9831(d) HRAs. Both are employer-funded health plans that reimburse employees tax-free for eligible out-of-pocket medical expenses, including individual health insurance premiums. The differences lie in the plan structure, various structures have evolved over the decades to comply with the constantly changing regulatory environment.  How do they work? Employers define a dollar amount they are willing to contribute to employees’ medical expenses. Employees spend money on qualified medical expenses and submit a request to be reimbursed and proof of the expense to the employer or the employer’s claim reviewer. Once approved the company re...

IRS Statement Prior to the Presidential Election “The IRS plans to reject electronically filed “silent returns” beginning in FS 2017....Silent returns filed by paper will go to the Error Resolution/Rejected Returns unit as the IRS issues Letter 12C, informing the taxpayer of the issue. If the taxpayer does not respond to the Letter 12C, the IRS will issue a notice to inform the taxpayer that the IRS estimated an ISRP and made an adjustment accordingly. If the taxpayer’s original return claimed a refund, the IRS will offset the refund with the ISRP balance. January 20, 2017 Presidential Executive Order “To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Secretary of Health and Human Services (Secretary) and the heads of all other executive departments and agencies (agencies) with authorities and responsibilities under the Act shall exercise all authority and discretion available to them to waive, defer, grant exemptions from, or delay the implementation of any provision or require...