Employee Benefits: Compliance Issues from the Tax Perspective

August 8, 2012
2:00 - 3:30 pm ET
Online

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) includes a number of new requirements affecting how employee benefits are taxed and reported. This session will outline those changes and discuss common issues faced by employers and employees including new compliance responsibilities placed on benefit plan administrators. Specifically, this session will cover the following substantive issues:

How employers are planning to develop benefit designs that meet the legal tests (e.g., the “minimum value” and “affordability” requirements) in order to qualify for the employer mandate provisions of the ACA.
Identification of the reporting and payment requirements with respect to the fee to fund the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI fee).
Discussion of the new ACA coverage mandates and reporting requirements to the IRS as well as to employees.
Explanation of the new W-2 reporting provisions on the value of insurance coverage.
Overview of how “tax favored” spending accounts (e.g., HRAs, HSAs, and health FSAs) are impacted by the ACA.

Educational Objectives:

Gain a detailed overview of the responsibilities the ACA has placed on employers in regards to their employee benefits.

Describe compliance issues presented by the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and various state health reform initiatives
Identify the new reporting requirements imposed by the ACA on employers offering employee benefits
Understand how legal and regulatory changes will require modifications to employee benefits programs

Target Audience:

The ideal target level for this workshop includes:

Health insurance professionals who are responsible for any aspect of compliance in their day-to-day career
Leadership engaged in compliance and regulatory outreach and advocacy strategies
Health plan compliance and risk management professionals
Attorneys and legal staff
Health care consultants

Registration Rates
Members: $145
Non-members: $175
Government: $125

Speakers Include:

J.D. Piro, Senior Vice President, Aon Hewitt

J D. Piro is a senior vice president at Aon Hewitt, where he leads the Health & Benefits Practice’s Legal consulting group and is a senior member of the Health & Benefits Practice’s Federal Health Care Reform Team. Mr. Piro has worked in the area of ERISA and employee benefits, as an attorney and as a legal consultant, for more than twenty-five years. He helps employers develop and implement strategies to identify and reduce the legal risks inherent in the health care environment.

Mr. Piro works with employers on a wide range of legal issues affecting the design, administration, and funding of employer-provided health care plans. He monitors State and Federal legislation and case law relating to the design, administration, and operation of health care programs.

Mr. Piro is a member of the Employee Benefits Research Institute, the New York State Bar Association, the National Business Group on Health, the ERISA Industry Committee, and the American Health Lawyers Association. Mr. Piro has testified before the Department of Labor on ERISA issues affecting employee benefit plans. A frequent speaker on health care law, Mr. Piro has appeared on CNBC and MSNBC discussing health law issues and has been quoted in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fox Business, New York Newsday, Crain’s New York Business, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and Business Insurance.

Fred Schindler, Director, Collection Policy in the Small Business/Self-Employed Division of the Internal Revenue Service

Fred Schindler is the director, Collection Policy in the Small Business/Self-Employed Division of the Internal Revenue Service. As director, Mr. Schindler establishes and implements all policy for service-wide collection activities. He administers general payment processes and analysis, case resolution alternatives, field payment compliance, technical and insolvency, risk based collection, offer in compromise and private debt collection oversight.

Mr. Schindler began his IRS career in 1998 with the Office of Chief Counsel in Washington, D.C., where he worked in General Litigation for Collection, Bankruptcy and Summonses. He continued working in this same area as a senior attorney in October 2001, moved on to Assistant to the Branch Chief in 2002, and then up to Special Counsel to the Associate Chief Counsel for Procedure and Administration in June 2003. In May 2005, Mr. Schindler advanced to the Deputy Assistant Chief Counsel, again continuing in the Collection field of expertise.

Mr. Schindler moved to his current position as director, Collection Policy in June 2006. He brought with him a wealth of knowledge and experience in Collection matters and activities. Since January 2009, Mr. Schindler has also served as the IRS Bureau Accountable Official for implementation and reporting of the Recovery Act.

Tom Wilder, Senior Regulatory Counsel, America’s Health Insurance Plans

Tom Wilder serves as the Senior Regulatory Counsel for America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP). Mr. Wilder has responsibility for assisting AHIP’s member companies with legislative and regulatory issues including insurance regulation, health benefits, taxation, health information technology, and compliance activities.

Mr. Wilder previously worked as the Director of Public Policy for the American Academy of Actuaries and as the Director of Government and Public Affairs for the Kansas Department of Insurance.

Mr. Wilder received a BA in Political Science and Sociology from the University of Kansas and a JD from Washburn University Law School. After graduation from law school, Mr. Wilder practiced law with Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver and Jacobson in Washington DC and Sloan, Listrom, Eisenbarth, Sloan and Glassman in Topeka, Kansas.

Mr. Wilder is a member of the Employee Benefits Committee of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and is licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia and Kansas.

Brigen Winters, Principal, Groom Law Group

Brigen L. Winters is a principal at Groom Law Group, Chartered. Mr. Winters co-chairs the firm's Policy and Legislation practice group and also works with the firm's Executive Compensation, Health and Welfare, Plan Design and Taxation, and Public and Multiemployer Plans practice groups. His practice includes counseling plan sponsors, insurers and other financial institutions regarding executive compensation, health and welfare and tax-qualified arrangements, and advising plan sponsors, coalitions, and trade associations on legislative and regulatory matters.

Mr. Winters returned to the firm in January 2002 after serving for three years as majority tax counsel to the House Committee on Ways and Means. While on the Committee on Ways and Means staff, he was responsible for all issues related to employee benefits and deferred compensation, including the Portman-Cardin pension reform legislation that was enacted as part of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001. Mr. Winters also advised Members and staff on issues related to the Patients Bill of Rights legislation, Social Security, tax-exempt organizations, and the taxation of insurance companies and their products.

Over the last several years, Mr. Winters has worked extensively on health reform issues that were recently enacted as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. He also works extensively on executive and nonqualified deferred compensation issues, including compliance and plan design issues related to Code sections 409A, 162(m) and 457A.

The content presented in this webinar is solely attributable to the speaker and does not represent an endorsement by America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) of the accuracy of the information presented in the audio conference or any opinion expressed by the speaker.