Confused about what Obamacare means for you and your business? The U.S. Small Business Administration launched a website and blog worth bookmarking.
The SBA's new website breaks down the health-care law's new provisions by business size: the self-employed, employers with fewer than 25 employees, employers with fewer than 50 employees and employers with 50 or more employees. It also links to other tools, including an interactive map, where you can find out information specific to your state, and a glossary of health-care-related terms.
The SBA's blog, called Health Care Business Pulse, will have tips and advice about the implementation of Obamacare. Its first entry explains three things that small-business owners need to know about the reform. For example, if you have fewer than the equivalent of 25 full-time employees, pay average annual wages below $50,000, and contribute 50 percent or more toward your employee health-insurance premiums, you are eligible for a tax credit worth up to 35 percent of what you are spending on those premiums. In 2014, this tax credit goes up to 50 percent.
Related: What's Ahead for the SBA in 2013
Dubbed Obamacare, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010 and includes a number of provisions that will affect the way that small-business owners provide health insurance to their employees. Most notably, small-business owners will be able to shop on open and competitive marketplaces for insurance plans. Enrollment will begin Oct.1 and the marketplaces will go into effect in 2014.
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