Does the Mandate Count Average Annual Wages?
On your website, you mention large groups with average annual salary of $250,000.
I have not read about this income specification anywhere else.
Can you explain this rule?
Answer
The mandate takes full-time equivalent employees into account, but doesn't take average annual wages into account.
At some point we read that businesses with more than 100 FTE and annual average wages of $250,000 had to comply with the mandate in 2015 for 70% of full-time employees.
For better or worse we cannot find this rule anywhere (we make an effort to cite every number at least once on our site, this one obviously slipped by).
We just reviewed the final IRS rulings on the mandate an simply don't see proof that we were correct. Oops, mistake is corrected on the site and this page can serve as documentation for those who may be confused and searching for the answer.
A correct statement would be "Businesses with more than 100 FTE (but not annual average wages of $250,000) have to comply with the mandate in 2015 for 70% of full-time employees. Starting in 2016 it's 95% of full-time employees for those with over 50 FTE. Average annual wages don't factor into the mandate. However, employers with less than 25 FTE, with average annual wages of less than $50,000, qualify for employer tax credits."
The above being said. The $250,000 number does come up in the ACA (and perhaps was the source of confusion).
Businesses making over $250,000 in profit must pay a .9% increase on the current Medicare part A tax. The tax is split (.45% each) between the employer and employees making over $200,000 individual ($250,000 family).