Legislation

For many employers, a zero-tolerance approach to drug use and random drug testing helps to ensure a safe, productive work environment. Yet more states are legalizing medical marijuana, and recreational use is legal in two others. A tangle of federal laws adds to the confusion. Being aware of the legal issues involved and the changing legal landscape is important for employers to ensure that their drug testing polices are legal and enforceable.

The IRS has been struggling in its efforts to close an estimated $385 billion “tax gap” between the amount that taxpayers owe and the amount they’ve actually paid. Now, to add another crushing weight, it has to ramp up Obamacare activities despite recent budget cutbacks.

Despite reports of a formal extension circulating in the media, March 31 was the last day that individuals could sign up for health insurance coverage for 2014 under the Obamacare mandate without risking a hefty financial penalty. Or was it?

Despite recent claims that the deadline for signing up for Obamacare would not be postponed beyond the initial March 31 deadline – the day before April Fool’s Day – the White House has finally caved into the pressure. According to a report in the Washington Post on March 25, the Obama administration is extending the open enrollment period for two to three weeks in three dozen states around the country.

The second month of legal recreational marijuana sales in Pueblo saw three more stores open and $4,000 less in sales tax revenues collected by the county.

The government seems to have worked out most of the kinks in www.healthcare.gov, the online site used to sign up for Obamacare. But it has yet to address another glitch that surfaced almost two years ago: Language in the law that prevents married taxpayers who file separate tax returns from qualifying for special tax subsidies.

When it first became clear that tax preparers – including CPAs – would have to be the front line in implementation of the Affordable Care Act, I voiced a lot of concerns. I doubted it would be possible for accounting professionals to serve as both trusted advisors and health insurance sales people.

Every American citizen should have access to affordable, quality health care. Most of us would agree on the principle; it is the implementation that has everyone befuddled. It’s not just that the implementation of the ACA has been marked by cronyism, bad decisions, failures, fraud, political floundering, lies and stealth taxes. It is that the program itself will not work because there is no one-size fits all solution to health care.