Are there requirements to report the cost of health coverage on an employees Form W-2?
Yes. The Senate bill would require employers to include the cost of employer-sponsored health coverage on an employee’s Form W-2. The provision would be effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2010. Both labor and employers are opposed to the Senate excise tax on high cost health plans. Segal has been part of a process to help educate the Senate about the impact on plan sponsors. On December 11, 2009, Ed Kaplan, Segal’s National Health Practice Leader, participated in a Congressional Staff Briefing on the Effects of the Senate’s Proposed Excise Tax on High-Cost Health Plans. Ed presented a study of Segal’s multiemployer plans, which showed that at the latest proposed threshold ($8,500/$23,000), 13 percent of our multiemployer plan clients would hit the excise tax threshold in 2013. However, unless the annual index is inflated at the same rate as private sector health plan cost trends, the number of plans hitting the tax could grow rapidly.
