Tool Helps Test Effects of Healthcare Law on Businesses

Thomson Reuters has released a new Affordable Care Act (ACA) analysis tool for tax and employee benefits professionals. The Web-based ACA Decision Support Tool, available on Thomson Reuters Checkpoint online platform, produces tailored analyses of the Act’s impact on a business — including scenario planning and potential strategies to optimize employer-provided health benefits and minimize taxes and penalties.

“The Affordable Care Act presents significant challenges for advisors who help businesses plan for and comply with the act’s provisions, including the employer shared responsibility mandate and ongoing IRS reporting requirements,” said Jim Reeves, vice president for the professional tax market at Thomson Reuters. “With more than 20,000 pages of regulations, the Act is extremely complex. Our ACA Decision Support Tool cuts through the complexity and helps employers make well-informed decisions.”

The tool allows users to input employer data to:

Enable employers and their advisors to better understand the relevant requirements of the Act, remain compliant, minimize taxes, and avoid penalties.
Identify whether an employer is an “applicable large employer” subject to employer shared responsibility (play or pay) requirements.
Determine the impact of shared responsibility rules over multiple years.
Determine the after-tax cost of maintaining existing health care coverage under the Act as well as the cost of dropping coverage entirely and adjusting compensation.
Assess the impact of adding or dropping employees or converting employees from full-time to part-time status.
Assess the impact of increasing or decreasing employee contributions to the cost of coverage.
Determine whether an employer qualifies for the small business health care tax credit.
Evaluate the “affordability” of health care coverage.

Features of the tool include:

Continual updates to reflect the evolving rules and regulations.
Embedded guidance and calculations with references to applicable Thomson Reuters EBIA and PPC health care reform guidance.
A dynamic interview-based survey to gather the employer-specific data to produce analysis.
Automated, customizable reports in Microsoft^® Word to share conclusions and recommendations.
Primary source materials from the IRS, Treasury department, and other federal regulatory bodies.
Designed with familiar Checkpoint look and feel.

Thomson Reuters collaborated with SyncStream Solutions LLC to develop the ACA Decision Support Tool for Checkpoint and its users. “We’re excited to have worked with Thomson Reuters tax and employee benefits editorial teams to deliver a superior product with the Checkpoint look and feel in which its customers are accustomed,” said Anna M. Silva, vice president of Business Development, SyncStream Solutions.

Checkpoint is the comprehensive, authoritative source for information, special reports, news, tools, and continuing professional education that helps tax and employee benefits professionals effectively and efficiently plan for and comply with the ACA.