President Obama signed legislation affecting the continuation of health insurance coverage. NAW has prepared an outline of the key provisions that touch COBRA continuation and how employers may be affected.
For guidance from the IRS, please go to:
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=204505,00.html
For answers to frequently asked questions, go to:
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=204708,00.htm
For more information please visit:
http://www.naw.org/files/COBRA.pdf
In addition, last week the U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) released four model notices employers need to inform former employees of the availability of a premium subsidy for COBRA health continuation coverage.
To access DoL’s press release on this topic, go to:
www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/ebsa/EBSA20090292.htm
To access the model notices, go to the Employee Benefit Security Administration’s (EBSA) dedicated web page:
www.dol.gov/cobra
Under the “For Employers” heading, click on the “COBRA ARRA Model Notices” link. Please note the availability of additional helpful information on this page as well.
Additionally, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has produced some guidance to employers on how to manage the subsidy offsets on their quarterly tax forms. For IRS’ Q’s and A’s on the preparation of the form, go to:
www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=205373,00.htm
To access the Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return, go to:
www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f941.pdf
To access Quarterly Form instructions, go to:
www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i941.pdf
