H&R Block has teamed up with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City to offer an online calculator that can help small businesses understand the financial impact of health care reform and determine their health insurance savings by using tax credits under the bill.
The calculator will help users understand the following elements of reform as they become effective: the small business health care premium credit for qualified employers with 25 or fewer employees and average annual wages under $50,000 in 2010; requirements to provide employee coverage for full-time employees who work for businesses with 50 or more employees in 2014; employer penalties for not providing coverage when at least one full-time employee is enrolled in an individual subsidized health care plan in 2014; and the excise tax on high-cost health plans, which applies to plans that cost more than $10,200 for an individual and $27,500 for a family in 2018. To use the tax calculator, small business owners answer questions about their employees and insurance coverage, including the number of employees, payroll and wages, and the insurance premiums the company expects to pay. The calculator then generates an overview of the company's health care costs and whether, beginning in 2014, the company will be required to offer health insurance to employees. In addition, the calculator provides information regarding employer penalties for not providing coverage, along with details on the excise tax that could be assessed on high-cost health plans beginning in 2018.
The small business tax credit calculator can be accessed on the Blue Cross and Blue Shield site by visiting
