Although the latest employment statistics show a drop in the number of people claiming benefit, there’s little real improvement in the availability of work. It’s still tough to find and keep a job. Curiously, both the GOP and the Democrats see the need to encourage small business, believing new entrepreneurs will lead us out of the recession. The problem with this view is we are less entrepreneurial than we used to be. Many other countries have a higher percentage of people prepared to risk their capital in starting new businesses. The majority of our younger adults are just sitting back waiting for jobs to come along. That said, the Government is encouraging small business with tax breaks. All of which brings us to the Affordable Care Act.

Ignoring the usual politics and second-guessing what the Supreme Court will rule in 2012, let’s focus on what will happen between now and 2014 when the whole Act’s program is supposed to be in force. If you are a one-person business, you will be caught by the mandate just like any other individual. That means you buy cover or pay a penalty. For the record, the penalty is $695 or 2.5% of your income whichever is the greater unless the actual cost of the premium will be more than 8% of your income. You do the math to weigh up where you interests lie.

There’s no mandate for businesses, but there are penalties for failing to put a plan in place. If you have up to 25 employees, there’s a tax break to set off against half the cost of group cover. But you only get the maximum benefit if you are really small, i.e. you do not have the equivalent of 10 full-time employees and the average of their pay is less than $25,000. Your right to the tax break reduces as your size and the average pay increases. If you are small but your employees earn an average of $50,000 or more you lose the tax credit. In 2014 every state should have a Small Business Exchange in operation and, if you decide to buy through your local exchange, the tax credit will increase. However, these tax credits are only to prime the pump. Once you have a plan for your business, the credit will phase out over five years and only for two years after the exchanges are running.

The penalties can be quite significant and you cannot avoid them simply by buying really cheap health insurance. Whatever group plan you buy has to offer a minimum set of benefits. If this persuades you to spend too much you could get caught by an “affordability” test. The premium rate charged to an employee cannot exceed 9.5% of the family’s income. So when you are looking for group health plans for your employees or reviewing the current plan, remember the tax breaks now available and, more importantly, remember how the penalties will be calculated come 2014. Indeed, if you run a small business, you could find it beneficial to talk through all these issues with your accountant and health insurance agent. If the Affordable Care Act survives the Supreme Court challenge, you will have to deal with the threat of penalties.