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… interpret and enforce the various employer and group health plan sponsor obligations in the two laws. New FAQs released April 11, 2020, specifically address several questions plan sponsors have raised regarding covering coronavirus testing costs and increasing telehealth access. COVID-19 Testing FFCRA generally requires group health plans to provide benefits for certain items and services related to diagnostic testing to detect SARS-CoV-2 or diagnose COVID-19. Plans must cover these costs with no cost sharing (including deductibles, copayments and coinsurance), prior authorization or any other medical management requirement, when furnished on or after March 18, 2020 (FFCRA …

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), which generally became effective April 1, 2020, provides for Emergency Paid Sick Leave and Emergency Expanded FMLA Leave to help lessen the financial severity of the COVID-19 outbreak in certain critical areas relating to employment and health coverage. The U.S. Department of Labor has released additional FAQs that provide more details around the many questions employers have raised as they work to comply with the law’s new compliance requirements. The current FAQs are now up to 79 questions, but we present here the newly released FAQs that pertain to the …

… to specified limits, but the same wages cannot be counted for both credits. What is the Employee Retention Credit? The Employee Retention Credit is a fully refundable tax credit for employers equal to 50% of qualified wages (including allocable qualified health plan expenses) that eligible employers pay their employees. This Employee Retention Credit applies to qualified wages paid after March 12, 2020, and before January 1, 2021. The maximum amount of qualified wages taken into account with respect to each employee for all calendar quarters is $10,000, so that the maximum credit for an eligible employer for qualified wages …

… including tax-exempt organizations) may claim the refundable tax credits if they have fewer than 500 employees, and are required under the FFCRA to pay “qualified sick leave wages” and/or “qualified family leave wages.” A business is considered to have fewer than 500 employees if, at the time an employee’s leave is to be taken, the business employs fewer than 500 full-time and part-time employees within the United States, which includes any State of the United States, the District of Columbia, or any Territory or possession of the United States. The IRS does not specify when …