Healthcare Amendment May Help Small CUs Posted by AVCU on 3:07 PM

Small federally and state-chartered credit unions may become eligible to receive small business health care tax credits under S.1796, the “America's Healthy Future Act,” - health care reform legislation recently approved by the Senate Finance Committee. The legislation creates tax credits designed to aid small businesses in off-setting the cost of providing health insurance for their employees. For tax-exempt small employers, like credit unions, the tax credits could be used to decrease the amount of payroll taxes the employer pays to the IRS.

Originally, the legislation didn’t extend the same tax credits or other assistance to small tax-exempt employers (like credit unions) that were offered to small for-profit businesses providing healthcare insurance to their employees. CUNA sent a letter to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and ranking Republican Charles Grassley of Iowa, calling for equal benefits for all small employers to provide healthcare coverage for their employees, saying that "employer parity and basic fairness must prevail and the bill's incentives should apply to all small employers."