Changes
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-1) Firms must employ fewer than 25 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees**2) Average employee salary of $50,000 per year or less (adjusted for 2014 inflation rates)**3) Employer coverage of at least 50% of all FTE employees' premium costs **4) Coverage for FTE employees' Qualified Health Plans must be purchased through the SHOP Marketplace**5) Only employers with 10 or fewer FTE with annual wages of less than $10,000 can qualify for the full tax credit ( "the smaller the business, the bigger the credit" [https://www.healthcare.gov/small-businesses/provide-shop-coverage/small-business-tax-credits//]) (After 2014, the maximum credit amount increases from 35% to 50% of employers' share of premiums**6) Employers cannot claim the tax credit for more than two consecutive and taxable years (starting in the first taxable year after 2014)
→Small Employer Health Insurance Tax Credit
There is also a temporary health insurance tax credit available to firms with 25 or fewer employees and making less than $50,000 in annual wages, but many firms do not meet the strict requirements necessary for obtaining the tax credit that would cover up to 50% of employer contributions to employees' health insurance premiums (up to 35% for tax-exempt employers):
The health insurance tax credit became available to firms in 2014 [http://obamacarefacts.com/insurance-exchange/shop-exchange/]. The tax credit is quite under-inclusive, and according to the National Federation of Independent Businesses, only one in three small businesses qualify [http://www.ncpa.org/pub/st356]. Of the estimated 1.4 to 4 million small businesses that were eligible for the wide range of tax credits, only 181,000 actually claimed the Small Employer Health Insurance Tax Credit in 2014.
