Your
Monthly Newsletter from Integrated Benefit Solutions
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October 2021
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OSHA to Mandate Vaccine and Testing Temporary
Standard for COVID-19
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On Sept. 9, 2021,
President Biden announced
that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is
developing an emergency temporary standard (ETS). The new ETS
will require private-sector employers with 100 or more employees
to ensure their workforce is fully vaccinated or test negative
for COVID-19 every week before coming to work.
This announcement follows the vaccination, masking and social
distancing requirements
issued by the president in July for the public sector—federal
employees and on-site contractors.
There currently is no time frame as to when the new ETS will be
released. The government estimates that the ETS will impact over
80 million private-sector workers.
Current OSHA
ETS
OSHA currently has a COVID-19 ETS
for the health care and health care support workers. This ETS
covers hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living facilities;
emergency responders; home health care workers; and employees in
ambulatory care settings where suspected or confirmed COVID-19
patients are treated.
OSHA has also issued guidance to
help employers and workers not covered by the health care ETS.
This guidance is to help employers protect workers who are
unvaccinated, otherwise at-risk, or fully vaccinated but in areas
of substantial or high community transmission.
Next Steps
Employers should continue to protect at-risk, unvaccinated
and fully vaccinated workers. Employers should also monitor OSHA
communication channels to become familiar with the expected
private sector ETS once it is published.
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IRS Issues Employer Guidance for Reporting 2021
FFCRA Leave
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IRS
Notice 2021-53, issued Sept. 7, 2021, provides
guidance for employers on how to report sick and family leave
wages for employee leave taken in 2021 under the Families First
Coronavirus Relief Act (FFCRA), as amended by the COVID-related
Tax Relief Act of 2020 and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
In July 2020, the IRS issued Notice
2020-54 about reporting for FFCRA leave taken in 2020.
Reporting
Requirement
Employers are required to report qualified 2021 FFCRA leave wages
to employees on either a 2021 Form W-2, Box 14, or in a separate
statement provided with the Form W-2. The requirement applies
only to employers who claim tax credits for the leave wages under
the relevant legislation.
According to the notice, there are separate reporting
requirements for leave provided from Jan. 1, 2021, to March 31,
2021, and for leave provided from April 1, 2021, to Sept. 30,
2021. The notice gives additional specific reporting instructions
for leave wages that must be entered on Box 1, 3 or 5 of Form
W-2. The guidance also includes model language employers may
provide as part of the Form W-2, Box 14 “Instructions for Employee,”
or in a separate statement.
Paid Sick
and Family Leave Under FFCRA
The FFCRA, passed in March 2020, required employers with fewer
than 500 employees to provide paid sick and family leave for
specific COVID-19-related reasons and included employer tax
credits to cover leave costs. The leave requirement expired in
December 2020. However, the Tax Relief Act of 2020 and the
American Rescue Plan Act extended the tax credits for employers
who chose to continue to provide FFCRA leave, first through March
31, 2021, and then through Sept. 30, 2021.
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Proposed Rule Would Expand Electronic Filing
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On July 23, 2021,
the IRS published a proposed
rule that would expand the requirement to file certain
information returns electronically, including those under the
Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) reporting requirements in Internal
Revenue Code Section 6055 and Section 6056.
- For
Form 1094 series, Forms 1095-B and 1095-C, Form 1099 series and
Form 5498 series, electronic filing would be required for
entities that file 100
or more returns for due dates in 2022, and 10 or more returns
after that. The proposal would also require aggregation of
most information returns when calculating these thresholds.
- Entities
that file at least 10
returns of any type would be required to
electronically file Form 5330 for tax years ending on or
after the date final rules are published, and Form 8955-SSA
for plan years beginning on or after Jan. 1, 2022.
- For
entities required to file Form 5500, the proposed rule would
require entities that file at least 10 returns of any
type to file Form 5500 electronically for
plan years beginning after Dec. 31, 2021.
This proposal would effectively eliminate paper
filings for most employers. However, the proposed rule has not
been finalized and is not effective at this time.
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Five Steps to Successful Employee Communication
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Effective managers must be strong
communicators to inspire and lead their teams. The video below
offers five strategies and suggestions to keep your
managers' communication efforts on point.
For additional HR guidance, visit our Human
Resources section.
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