Thursday, March 13, 2014

DD in box 12 of your W-2?

What You Need to Know about the Amount of Health Insurance Reported on Form W-2
You may be wondering if you have to report the value of your employer-sponsored health insurance coverage, which may appear on your W-2, Wage and Tax Statement when you file your 2013 federal income tax return.
Here is what you need to know about the value shown on your W-2.
  • The health care law requires certain employers to report the cost of coverage under an employer-sponsored group health plan.
  • The amount of employer-sponsored health insurance coverage appears in Box 12 of the W-2, and has the code letters “DD” next to it.
  • Reporting the cost of health care coverage on the Form W-2 does not mean that the coverage is taxable or that it needs to be reported on your tax return.
  • The amount is only for information, and shows the payments made by you and your employer and is not included in the amount shown in Box 1, which is the amount of taxable earnings.

Monday, March 10, 2014

Health Care Tax Credit for Small Businesses

Small Business Health Care Tax Credit
 
The Small Business Health Care Tax Credit helps small businesses and tax-exempt organizations pay for health care coverage they offer their employees.
A small employer is eligible for the credit if it has fewer than 25 employees who work full-time, or a combination of full-time and part-time. For example, two half-time employees equal one employee for purposes of the credit.
For 2013, the average annual wages of employees must be less than $50,000, and the employer must pay a uniform percentage for all employees that is equal to at least 50% of the premium cost of the insurance coverage.
The maximum credit is 35 percent of premiums paid for small business employers and 25 percent of premiums paid for small tax-exempt employers such as charities.
If you are a small business employer who did not owe tax during the year, you can carry the credit back or forward to other tax years.
For small tax-exempt employers, the credit is refundable, so even if you have no taxable income, you may be eligible to receive the credit as a refund so long as it does not exceed your income tax withholding and Medicare tax liability.