Mark Beeching

Trump Accounts: What Employers Need to Know

Starting July 2026, employers can make voluntary, tax-free contributions of up to $2,500 annually per employee to Section 530A Trump Accounts, which act as starter traditional IRAs for minors. The new law, established by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), evidences growing federal support for family wealth-building and financial well-being. ____________________________ Companies intending to […]

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PFML Complexities Demand Better Connected Data

Featured / Mark Beeching

When employers think about Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML), they typically and understandably start with the benefit policies themselves and compliance requirements — not about the hidden data requirements! But data is where the real complexity begins. As employers expand their paid leave offerings and more states introduce PFML programs, many organizations find themselves

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Increased Federal Scrutiny for ACA Eligibility

Uncategorised / Mark Beeching

On May 15, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS] issued the HHS Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2027, introducing a broad set of changes to the federal ACA Health Insuracne Marketplace. These changes lower marketplace user fees; eliminate the requirement for marketplace insurers to offer standardized plan options; and grant states

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AI & Regtech for Employee Benefits [Part 2/3]

Featured / Mark Beeching

The AI revolution is fueling far-reaching business transformation. These ‘AI & RegTech’ posts have been created by the tech and benefits specialists at BENEFITSCAPE to help employers and everyone in the benefits ecosystem understand better the emerging benefits of AI for ben admin and compliance. In PART 2 we dig deeper into the different types

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Updates: Massachusetts PFML Highlights Compliance Challenges

Uncategorised / Mark Beeching

State-mandated benefit programs, including Paid Family and Medical Leave [PFML], place a growing compliance burden on employers and their HCM systems — from tracking eligibility and monitoring protected leave status to avoiding assumed retaliation for employee terminations. Two recent Massachusetts PFML updates — a new private plan exemption procedure and a significant jury verdict in

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ACA Penalties Set To Rise Again in TY27

Featured / Mark Beeching

Last month’s IRS Revenue Procedure 2026-22 signalled another substantial hike in penalties for non-compliance with the ACA’s Employer Shared Responsibility Provisions [or Employer Mandate]. These penalties fell in TY 2025 but have risen substantially for the current TY 2026 [reporting in 2027]. See ACA-To-Z Blog: Time to Get Ahead of ACA Changes. They are now

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Time To Get Ahead of ACA Changes for TY26

Featured / Mark Beeching

ACA Reporting & Compliance continues to evolve. New reporting requirements, changing penalty rates, and updated affordability thresholds are among the changes for TY 2026 [filing in 2027]. A number of government marketplace subsidies on healthcare are also set to expire, meaning more employees are likely to be considering employer plans. In short, now is the

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BENEFITSCAPE Helping Drive the LDEx Revolution

Uncategorised / Mark Beeching

As an active participant in LIMRA’s LDEx standards and technology committee, BENEFITSCAPE is helping shape the future of how data moves across the complex benefits ecosystem. To this end, BENEFITSCAPE Chief Technologist Max Ignatov will be taking part in a key panel discussion at the upcoming LIMRA Workplace Benefits Conference in Tampa, Fl [May 4-6].

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The OPTIONS Act & Employee-Directed Benefits

Featured / Mark Beeching

Bipartisan legislation giving employees greater control over their employer contributions was introduced on April 15 by two members of the influential House Ways and Means Committee. Below we outline the opportunities unlocked by this proposed legislation — and by BeneSphere’s regtech-enabled orchestration of increasingly complex and dynamic benefits data. _________________________ What is the OPTIONS Act?

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AI & RegTech for Employee Benefits [Part 1/3]

Featured / Mark Beeching

The AI revolution is fueling exciting and far-reaching business transformation — but also a good deal of hype, misunderstanding and even risk. Unlike other tehnology revolutions, many of the most avid early adopters of AI are the least expert. This can lead to organizations into misapplications, missed opportunities or, far worse, costly pitfalls and even unsafe

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ACA TY24: IRS Changes, Tips, & Common Errors

Featured, News, Trending, Uncategorised / Mark Beeching

If you read only one ACA Compliance & Reporting guide this year, make sure it’s this one! There are plenty of ACA guides out there. A lot contain errors, some are plain wrong, and more and more are loosely AI-generated. Most are confusing, to say the least. As if ACA governance, risk management & compliance

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ACA TY24: State Mandates Guide & Checklist

Uncategorised / Mark Beeching

When passed, the Affordable Care Act [ACA] required individuals to purchase & maintain qualifying health insurance coverage – or face a federal penalty. By reducing these penalties to zero in 2019, the federal Tax Cuts & Jobs Act [TCJA] effectively repealed the ACA individual mandate [as distinct from the ACA employer mandate]. Eleven US states

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Dayforce Strengthens BENEFITSCAPE Partnership

Featured, HCM OPTIMIZATION, News / Mark Beeching

The annual Dayforce Discover event starts in Vegas on Monday, November 11. BENEFITSCAPE will be participating this year as a Dayforce Consulting Partner for Benefits & Compliance. HCMs DELIVER BEST-IN-CLASS BEN ADMIN. Dayforce’s deep BENEFITSCAPE partnership reflects the industry-leading work BENEFITSCAPE has done pioneering ACA COMPLIANCE and other benefits administration for employers on the major HCMs.

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IRS Publishes Forms 1095-B & C for TY24

Featured, News / Mark Beeching

The IRS has published the TY2024 ACA Compliance & Reporting templates for employee FORM 1095-B and FORM 1095-C. The TY24 deadlines for distributing these forms to employees and for filing to the IRS are as follows: Forms 1095 Distribution Deadline: March 3, 2025 FORMS 1095 IRS E-Filing Deadline: March 31, 2025 FORMS 1095 & STATE-MANDATED

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TY25: IRS Sets ACA Affordability at 9.02%

News / Mark Beeching

The TY25 AFFORDABILITY THRESHOLD for calculating employer ACA compliance has been increased to 9.02% of the employee’s household income. This move by the IRS follows three years of decreases — from 9.83% in 2021 down to 8.39% for the current TY 2024. The increased threshold will take some of the budgetary pressure off the health cover

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AI & Regtech: The 7 Key Takeaways

Featured / Mark Beeching

This three-part series on AI & REGTECH has been created by the data scientists and benefits specialists at BENEFITSCAPE to provide a high-level framework for understanding how AI can support ben admin and compliance. In this final post, we sum up the key takeaways for employers from Parts 1 & 2. 1. AI comes with

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