S Corp Shareholder Health Benefits

Q. A 2% shareholder of an s corporation is also an emploeye.  The corporation offers health insurance under a premium only 125 cafeteria plan.  Is the shareholder/employee eligible to participate?  If so should the corporation’s contribution be reported as wages?

A. There are lots of good articles already on the web about 2% shareholders of S corporations. These would of course be secondary resources on the topic but they can provide coverage from the perspective of those who work in this field every day.

The key is that the IRS considers an S corp to be a partnership when dealing with employee fringe benefits.  If the company pays for the health insurance of a 2% shareholder, it is allowed to take a deduction for that benefit.  The full amount of that premium would be considered taxable income to the shareholder/employee.  So…yes, a shareholder can participate in the plan, but cannot get pre-tax treatment like the rest of the employees would under a section 125 or “cafeteria plan”.

Some states do not allow single person health plans to be purchased as a business.  If the 2% shareholder is the only shareholder in the S corp, then perhaps he should consider hiring his spouse to enable them to purchase a business plan.  Otherwise, health insurance must be purchased as an individual and can only be deducted once it passes 7.5% of AGI on the tax return if the individual itemizes.

The IRS published a bulletin about this topic that goes into much more detail.  It is IRB 2008-2 and can be found here.

HSA, FSA, What’s the Difference?

Q. My company offers both an FSA and an HSA.  I can’t see that there are any differences.  Help!

A. Yet another in the long list of acronyms meant (I’m sure of this) to confuse employees.  The differences begin with the names.  The spelled out versions are “Flexible Spending Account” and “Health Savings Account.”  There are two huge differences between these plans that I will discuss here to get you started.

I’ve never been a fan of the Flexible Spending Account (FSA) arrangement.  You get to Read more »

Health Savings Accounts – Insurance Plan

Q. My employer just switched to a Health Savings Account plan for our insurance. How does this work? It seems so expensive.

A. The Health Savings Account is a fairly recent concept delivered by Congress. The attempt is to get away from the entitlement mentality to more of an ownership mentality. Under the standard insurance plan concept, you pay the first $500 or so in medical costs as your deductible and then get transferred to a $20 copayment each time you visit the doc. Some plans allow regular medical visits at $20 without any deductible. This type of thinking leads people to go to the doctor for every little Read more »