Obama Health Care Bill Update - New Proposed Reliance Regulations Issued

For taxable years beginning after 2012 the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) of 2010 adds two new Medicare taxes for high-income taxpayers:
-  New IRC §1411 imposes a 3.8% unearned income Medicare contribution tax on individuals, estates, and trusts.  The tax is generally levied on income from interest, dividends, annuities, royalties, rents, and capital gains. 
-  Also, there will be an additional 0.9% Medicare tax on individual taxpayers receiving wages in excess of $200,000 ($250,000 for married couples filing jointly)

For months beginning after December 31, 2013, the PPACA imposes a shared responsibility payment penalty for certain large employers regarding health coverage.  New IRC §4980H states that an applicable large employer that does not offer coverage for all its full-time employees, offers minimum essential coverage that is unaffordable, or offers minimum essential coverage that consists of a plan under which the plan's share of the total allowed cost of benefits is less than 60%, is required to pay a penalty if any full-time employee is certified to the employer as having purchased health insurance through a state exchange with respect to which a tax credit or cost-sharing reduction is allowed or paid to the employee.