In Last Minute Move, IRS Spares Small Employers Big Affordable Care Act Penalties For 2014.

This article is almost a month old, but it’s still the best one I’ve seen out there on the “critical takeaways” from IRS Notice 2015-17, and the relief it’s bringing to small employers.  It also explains a few confusing bits about why these penalties are of concern in the first place: for example, how old “health insurance reimbursement plans” are not compliant with ACA rules, and how it’s taken a while for the IRS and DOL to get on the same page about it.  It also confirms that S-Corp >2% single-shareholder health insurance is going to be treated the same as it always has — for the time being — but not if there’s more than one person (2% shareholder or not) on the policy.  Considering that the prior ACA guidance in these areas common to small businesses was either vague or conflicting (or both), this is welcome relief, indeed.