Will the credit make a difference for you?
For tax years 2010 through 2013, 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.
For tax years beginning in 2014 or later, there will be changes to the credit:
The maximum credit will increase to 50 percent of premiums paid for small business employers and 35 percent of premiums paid for small tax-exempt employers.
- To be eligible for the credit, a small employer must pay premiums on behalf of employees enrolled in a qualified health plan offered through a Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) Marketplace.
- The credit will be available to eligible employers for two consecutive taxable years.
As an example, if you pay $50,000 a year toward workers’ health care premiums — and if you qualify for a 15 percent credit, you save… $7,500. If you save $7,500 a year from tax year 2010 through 2013, that’s total savings of $30,000. If, in 2014, you qualify for a slightly larger credit, say 20 percent, your savings go from $7,500 a year to $10,000 a year.
Even 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. Also, since the amount of the health insurance premium payments is more than the total credit, eligible small businesses can still claim a business expense deduction for the premiums in excess of the credit. That’s both a credit and a deduction for employee premium payments.
There is good news for small tax-exempt employers too. 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.
Can you claim the credit?
Now that you know how the credit can make a difference for your business, can you claim it?
To claim it, you must cover at least 50 percent of the cost of single (not family) health care coverage for each of your employees. You must also have fewer than 25 full-time equivalent employees (FTEs). Those employees must have average wages of less than $50,000 per year. This figure will be adjusted for inflation beginning in 2014. You will have to purchase insurance through the SHOP Marketplace to be eligible for the credit for tax years 2014 and beyond.
For more on the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit visit http://www.irs.gov/uac/Small-Business-Health-Care-Tax-Credit-for-Small-Employers.