Monday, May 2, 2011

The Affordable Care Act and Impact on California Tax

Here is some good news!

The Affordable Care Act and Impact on California Tax – AB 36
Effective 4/7/11 for Tax Year 2010
Health Coverage for Adult Children up to Age 27
California Assembly Bill (AB) 36 was enacted on April 7, 2011. This bill conforms California personal income tax law with federal income tax law by adopting a specified provision of the Affordable Care Act signed into law by the President in March 2010. (The Affordable Care Act refers to Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.) AB 36 is effective immediately, and generally applies to the same taxable periods as federal law.
·         The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires benefit plans that provide coverage for family members to cover adult children of the employee, to age 26 whether or not they qualify as dependents for tax purposes.
·         The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 extends the general exclusion for reimbursements for medical care expenses under an employer-provided accident or health plan to any child of an employee who has not attained age 27 as of the end of the taxable year.
Impact on Income Tax – The Affordable Care Act amends federal income tax laws to exclude the value of an eligible adult child’s medical coverage from the taxable income of the parent-employee, even if the child is not a dependent. The law also allows self-employed individuals a deduction for health insurance premiums for an adult child under age 27, even if the child is not a dependent.
New California law – California personal income tax law, as amended by AB 36, conforms to the 2010 federal income tax rules which exclude the value of the medical coverage provided to nondependent adult children from California gross income and allow a deduction to self-employed individuals for health insurance premiums for nondependent adult children under age 27.
·         Any amount paid by an employee for such additional coverage is excluded from California taxable wages.
·         Self-employed individuals may deduct the health insurance premium paid for an adult child under age 27.

Find out more at www.ftb.ca.gov