#employee-benefits
Discover employee benefit options to attract talent and reduce turnover in small businesses
IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-19 raises 2026 HSA limits to $4,400 self-only and $8,750 family, with a $1,000 catch-up at 55+, and lifts HDHP minimum deductibles to $1,700/$3,400. This guide explains how small businesses must update cafeteria plans, payroll caps, and bookkeeping before open enrollment to capture the triple tax benefit and avoid overcontribution and comparability penalties.
Association health plans could let small businesses and self-employed owners pool as a single large group under ERISA — median small-group premiums are proposed up 11% for 2026 and family coverage averages $26,993, while the Association Health Plans Act (S. 1847/H.R. 2528) would expand pooling with two-year association and nondiscrimination safeguards after the 2018 rule was rescinded in 2024.
Section 127 lets an employer give each employee up to $5,250 a year, tax-free, toward tuition or student loan payments — now permanent under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and indexed for inflation from 2027. This guide covers the written-plan and nondiscrimination requirements, the W-2 treatment, and a clean chart-of-accounts setup.
A phantom stock plan grants key employees hypothetical units that track company value and settle in cash — no shares issued, no dilution, no voting rights. Payouts are ordinary income subject to FICA when paid, the employer deducts them in the same year, and cash-settled awards are liability awards remeasured at fair value each reporting period. Paying within 2½ months after the year units vest satisfies Section 409A's short-term deferral exemption; a two-to-three-participant plan typically costs $4,000–$10,000 to launch.
A $75-a-month internet stipend paid without documentation is supplemental wages — reportable in W-2 Box 1 and costing the employer roughly 7.65% in matching payroll tax on top. The same $75 is tax-free and off the W-2 under a written accountable plan meeting all three tests in Treasury Regulation 1.62-2 — business connection, substantiation within 60 days, and return of excess within 120 days. This guide covers the two IRS paths, the five mistakes that flip a plan to taxable, the separate GL accounts and payroll pay types that keep the treatment straight, and the state statutes that require reimbursement regardless of federal tax treatment.
Vermont Saves reached employers with five or more workers on July 1, 2026, and New York Secure Choice finished its three-wave rollout on July 15, 2026. What each program requires, the penalties ($20 rising to $75 per employee in Vermont, $250 per employee per year in New York), and how to book the withholding as a payroll liability rather than an expense.
EPCRS gives small business 401(k) sponsors three ways to fix plan mistakes — self-correction with no fee, no filing, and no IRS contact through the third plan year for significant errors, a voluntary filing with IRS approval, or a negotiated closing agreement on audit — with standard fixes for late deferral deposits, missed eligible employees, plan loan failures, and missed RMDs.
New Jersey's Family Leave Act drops to 15 employees and 250 hours on July 17, 2026 — learn who is newly covered, how NJFLA differs from FMLA and NJ Family Leave Insurance, and the handbook, payroll, and job-restoration steps small employers must complete.
KFF's review of 318 insurers found ACA small-group premiums rising a median 11% for 2026. Learn the five drivers behind the increase, why the smallest employers feel it most, and how to budget your renewal without dropping coverage.
Level-funded health plans have become the choice of 40% of small employers seeking transparency, refunds, and predictable costs. Learn how the claims-fund-plus-stop-loss model works, accounting implications, and who should consider switching from fully-insured plans.
The DB(k) plan under Section 414(x) let small employers bundle a 401(k) and a pension into one plan, yet almost nobody adopted it. Here's why it failed — IRS double filing fees, unchanged administrative work, weaker owner contributions — and how a DB/DC combo of a cash balance plan plus 401(k) profit-sharing can push an older owner's deductible contributions past $480,000 a year.
Congress's February 2026 PBM reform mandates 100% rebate pass-through, bans spread pricing, and requires transparency reporting by August 2028. In West Virginia, an early rebate pass-through approach cut average 2026 group plan rate increases to 12.6% versus 19.5% under the old system. Here's what small employers should do before the 2029 enforcement date.
