Delay Of Employer Penalties Under Obamacare

The Treasury Department has announced that the imposition of employer penalties under Obamacare will be delayed until 2015. Initially, those penalties were scheduled to become effective as of January 1, 2014. The delay applies only to the employer penalty provisions and certain related reporting requirements. Implementation of the health care exchanges as well as the mandate for individual health care coverage (including penalties for the failure to obtain such coverage) remain unaffected; they are still scheduled to become effective next year. 

The delay in implementation came about because of complaints from employers that Obamacare penalty provisions were too complex to enforce by the initial 2014 deadline, and there was a lack of guidance regarding several issues.   To somewhat paraphrase Nancy Pelosi ... Now that we know what's in the legislation, it's not all that it's cracked up to be.  Rushing to enact legislation without reading it first is a recipe for disaster. This may be the first of many delays in the implementation and enforcement of Obamacare.  Stay tuned.