Workshop to help employers prepare for Affordable Care Act paperwork
As 2016 begins, business owners will be handling a myriad of tax forms as part of the Affordable Care Act.
But the University of Houston-Victoria Small Business Development Center is ready to help ease the burden of figuring out the paperwork.
“Complicated is the best word I can think of to describe it,” said Jean Smith, UHV SBDC training coordinator. “There’s so much that we are still learning about the ACA. It’s a big piece of legislation. It has so many other areas that it touches.”
Affordable Care Act Forms, Reporting and Record Keeping is a free workshop that will take place from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Jan. 5 in the Donna and Roger Welder Conference Room inside UHV University North, 3007 N. Ben Wilson St. San Antonio CPA David Plemons will be the presenter.
Although the workshop is open to anyone, it will be particularly useful for those who own or run small businesses, UHV SBDC Director Joe Humphreys said. Plemons will go over the forms, filing and retention involved in the health care law from the small business owner’s side.
Plemons is a subject-matter expert who will offer a clear, simple explanation of the information small business owners need to process paperwork and file information correctly, Humphreys said. Plemons already is familiar with the forms involved from assisting his accounting clients.
Many small businesses don’t have a human resources department that handles employees’ tax information, Humphreys said. That responsibility falls to the business owner, who usually will be the employees’ first resource if they have questions about the new tax forms. The workshop also will serve as a refresher for people who already know how to fill out the forms.
“The ACA has three separate forms for employees depending on the kind of health coverage offered,” Humphreys said. “We are bringing in Mr. Plemons, so people can have their questions answered now instead of learning on the fly. The reporting requirements for the ACA have expanded this year, and businesses need to know what they must divulge.”
To register for the workshop, contact the UHV SBDC at 361-485-4485, 877-895-7232 or sbdc@uhv.edu. The SBDC office will close for the winter holidays beginning Thursday and will reopen Jan. 4.
The UHV SBDC is part of a nationwide small business assistance program that serves the small business community in partnership with federal, state and local governments. The center offers business advising, training and technical assistance to existing and start-up businesses in an 11-county area.
The University of Houston-Victoria, located in the heart of the Coastal Bend region since 1973 in Victoria, Texas, offers courses leading to more than 80 academic programs in the schools of Arts & Sciences; Business Administration; and Education, Health Professions & Human Development. UHV provides face-to-face classes at its Victoria campus, as well as an instructional site in Katy, Texas, and online classes that students can take from anywhere. UHV supports the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Opportunities for All initiative to increase awareness about state colleges and universities and the important role they have in providing a high-quality and accessible education to an increasingly diverse student population, as well as contributing to regional and state economic development.
