Health benefit affordability safe harbor leans on payroll

Under the Affordable Care Act health care reform law, employers will pay a penalty if just one employee enrolls in coverage through the individual exchange and receives a premium tax credit and his or her contribution isn’t affordable because it exceeds 9.5% of his or her household income. Problem: You usually don’t know employees’ household income. To remedy this, the IRS is proposing an employer affordability safe harbor.