will obamacare penalties kill your small business clients?

fines run $100 per day, per employee.

by stephen l. nelson, cpa
and elizabeth c. nelson, cpa
small business and the affordable care act

by now, many of your small business clients understand they don’t have to provide employees with health insurance. the employer mandate starts when a firm employs 50 or more full-time-equivalent employees.

but here’s an awkward follow-up question: do your small business clients understand that many of the aca’s rules still apply to them and that they may still be vulnerable to the aca’s 4980d excise tax penalty—which runs $100 per day per employee?

learn more: small businesses and the affordable care act: what every tax practitioner needs to know (55-page pdf digital download)

can we talk irc code sections?

people sometimes hear references to the 4980d penalty and scoff, say you can’t believe everything you hear on talk radio or read at some blog. so let’s look at the actual internal revenue code section in question.

here are the first few sentences of irc sec 4980d: