Compliance check: legal stories of the year

Just call 2014 the year of compliance. The first full year many of the Affordable Care Act’s provisions went into effect, EBA’s top 10 most popular stories and legal alerts nearly all surround ACA implementation.

1) Can employers reimburse employees for coverage purchased on the ACA exchanges?

Benefit broker and former lawyer David C. Smith breaks down this question that many are still asking to this day. Read it here.

2) Employer sued over wellness program

The case, EEOC v. Orion Energy Systems, serves as a reminder for advisers and their employer clients, when putting together a wellness plan, to pay careful attention to how the EEOC defines liability. Read it here.

3) Why can't employers pay for employees to go to the exchanges?

As an effort to comply with the ACA, some employers have been considering offering employees a lump sum of cash to purchase health care coverage on the exchanges, but the DOL now says such an arrangement isn't going to cut it. Read it here.

4) ACA compliance: Why employers can’t game the system on employee hours

Variable hour and other part-time employee determinations are tough. Here’s how to advise your employer clients on what to do and what not to do. Read it here.

5) The aftermath of the employer responsibility ruling

There’s much more to the ruling that advisers and plan sponsors need to be aware of in the coming months, says Keith R. McMurdy. Read it here.

6) IRS releases guidance on same sex marriage and retirement plan rollovers

Benefit advisers need to know how these two long-awaited guidance notices from the IRS will affect their employer clients. Read it here.

7) IRS closes ACA minimum value health plan loophole

The IRS plans to close a major loophole in the ACA by banning employers who offer medical plans without hospitalization coverage from qualifying as minimum value plans under the health reform law. Read it here.

8) First steps to take with IRS draft ACA reporting instructions

The IRS has released long-awaited draft instructions for the forms employers will use to comply with the ACA’s employer mandate, giving benefit advisers and their clients a glimpse of the work ahead for 2015 and how to begin preparing now. Read it here.

9) Feds release draft tax forms for employer compliance with ACA

The IRS released draft forms for employers to use to report health coverage offerings to employees, unveiling a glimpse of the administrative onus in store for benefit advisers and their employer clients working to comply with the health law. Read it here.

10) ACA subsidies on federal exchange overturned

President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul suffered a potentially crippling blow as a U.S. appeals court ruled the government can’t give financial assistance to anyone buying coverage on the insurance marketplace run by federal authorities. Read it here.