Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/117824
ARE YOU over 50? T o find out if you will be required to provide a health benefits plan for your employees starting January 1, you need to calculate if you have 50 or more full-time equivalent employees. The calculation method is outlined below, although many other complex rules and factors apply to the analysis. For each month of 2013: 1. Count the number of employees who worked 30 or more hours and are considered full time under the health care rules. 2. For all other employees (including seasonal workers) who worked fewer than 30 hours a week that month, add together the number of hours they worked. Divide the total hours of service by 120. 3. Add the results from step 1 and step 2 to calculate the number of full-time equivalent employees for the month. Next, add together the total full-time equivalents for all 12 months and divide by 12 to calculate the average for the year, rounding down any fractions. If the answer is under 50, you will not be mandated to provide health benefits. If the answer is 50 or more and you have seasonal employees, further calculations are needed. If your work force exceeds 50 or more full-time equivalent employees for 120 days (4 calendar months) or fewer during the year, then you would not be considered a large employer. If your work force is 50 or more full-time equivalents for more than 120 days of the year, you are considered a large employer and will need to provide health benefits. ���G. Warner must be offered but not necessarily subsidized. Some employers might prefer to just go ahead and pay the tax because it could be cheaper and less hassle than subsidizing the employees��� health care coverage, Blumbling said. The fine (known as the shared responsibility penalty) is $2,000 per employee annually, or $166.67 per month, though the first 30 full-time employees are excluded. For example, if you have 50 employees, you will pay a fine for only 20 of them. For larger operations with hundreds of employees, the 30-employee exclusion becomes less significant, and the play-or-pay decision becomes more difficult, Blumling noted. On the one hand, if you pay the fine, you know how much it will cost. On the other hand, if you put a health plan in place, the odds are that a certain percentage of the employees will not take it, perhaps because they have insurance through their spouse or they are young and healthy and feel they don���t need it. ���If you look at it that way, it may be that if you put a bare-minimum plan in place that meets the obligation, only half the work force will take it anyway,��� Blumling said. ���You have to factor in that variable, whereas if you pay the tax, you���re going to pay for everyone but the first 30 employees.��� Effects of Using Nutri-Cal with Nutri-K on Cherries Nut ri- Cal Effec Effe cts ffec Nutr Cal ri% MARKETABLE GRADES OF BING CHERRIES 80 70 Nutri-Cal 36% Increase in Premium Grade 8.5-9! 80 21.25% 20 50 44.2 www.goodfruit.com 15 40 10 30 20 20 5 10 0 PREMIUM MEDIUM 0 Application Rate of 2 Quarts Nutri-Cal & 1 Quart Nutri-K Applied 6 times beginning at Petal Fall 2011 Application Dates: May 23, May 27, June 3, June 11, June 19, June 24 Ron Britt & Associates, Yakima, WA 2012 FIRMNESS EVALUATION OF BING CHERRIES % PREMIUM COLORS OF BING CHERRIES 370 100 369.50 g 368 367 95.75 95 Tax deductible ��� 17.00% 56.7 60 369 Shawn Sicilia, benefits consultant with the insurance broker Maloney & O���Neill in Spokane, Washington, said employers should take into account that the health benefit premiums they pay are tax deductible but penalties are not. Employers will also pay a second type of penalty of $3,000 a year for each employee who obtains insurance through an exchange and receives a federal subsidy in the event that the employer���s health plan is not affordable or doesn���t provide minimum value. Employees whose household income is less than four times the federal poverty level, which amounts to about $88,000 for a family of four, may qualify for a subsidy. BRIX QUALITY OF BING CHERRIES 25 90 366.28 g 89.25 85 366 80 365 364 GRAMS FORCE TO SQUEEZE SKIN 1mm 75 COMBINED MAHOGANY & DARK MAHOGANY Make Sure You Always Ask For �� �� C.S.I. CHEMICAL CORP. 800-247-2480 PACIFIC NORTHWEST www.nutri-cal.com Walt Grigg: 509-952-7558 10980 Hubbell Ave., Bondurant, Iowa 50035 GOOD FRUIT GROWER April 1, 2013 27