On December 18, 2015, President Obama signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act for 2016 that was a merged spending and tax-extender bill. This law includes a delay until 2020 for the so-called “Cadillac” excise tax under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). As a reminder, the Cadillac tax is a 40% excise tax that was originally scheduled to apply in 2018 to employer-provided health coverage that exceeded certain specific thresholds. This delay is welcome news as many employers had already begun the process of reducing employer-provided health benefits to prepare for this tax. This law also suspends the medical device tax under the ACA for two years, and of course, funds the federal government through 2016.

If you have any questions regarding these issues, please contact your Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits counsel at Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP.

This client alert is intended to inform clients and other interested parties about legal matters of current interest and is not intended as legal advice.