New ACA Employer Mandate (Pay or Play) Penalty Calculator Released

Author: Tracy Morley, XpertHR Legal Editor

XpertHR has just released a new, interactive Employer Mandate Penalty Calculator that allows employers to compare the amount of potential penalties over a two-year period (2015 and 2016) under the Affordable Care Act's (ACAs) Pay or Play mandate. It's one of the only calculators available that enables an employer to calculate potential penalties in 2015 based on the February 2014 new regulations.

Under the ACA, beginning in 2015, certain employers are subject to the employer shared responsibility provisions of Section 4980H of the Internal Revenue Code. Often referred to as the employer mandate or the pay or play mandate, it may subject an applicable large employer to a shared responsibility penalty if the employer does not offer minimum essential coverage to its full-time employees (and their dependents) that is affordable and that provides minimum value.

The final regulations implementing the employer mandate, issued in February, 2014, made some changes to the proposed regulations, including phasing in the requirements for employees with less than 100 full-time employees and for employers that offer coverage to most, but not all of their full time employees.

The calculator has been added to the Health Care Reform Resource Center.