IRS to announce tax credit rules for small business health premiums

The Associated Press: "Pitching President Barack Obama's health care law to skeptical business owners, the IRS on Monday will announce ground rules for small firms wishing to claim a new federal tax credit for health insurance." The tax credit, which was created by the new health overhaul law, "covers up to 35 percent of the premiums that certain small businesses pay on behalf of their workers. The IRS notice addresses unanswered questions about the benefit, which is available starting this year" (5/17).

Politico: "While the final guidelines are still yet-to-be released, an outline obtained by POLITICO clarifies how businesses will qualify for the tax credits and what health costs will get subsidized. The same outline also hammers home other health care reform benefits for small business. In addition to the tax credits, it specifies five ways the new law benefits employers, including increased bargaining power through the health care exchanges and ending 'job lock,' where employees remain at a job simply for health insurance benefits" (Kliff, 5/17).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.