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U.S. Small Business Administration Launches Informational Website on Health Care Reform

"The site -- www.sba.gov/healthcare -- breaks down the key provisions, based on business size. It also provides links to other useful information for small companies, including a glossary of key health-care reform terms, an interactive time line with dates when certain reforms will be implemented and a state-by-state breakdown of health-care options."

Online Tools to Help You Find and Price Small Business Health Care Insurance Options

"As small business owners, getting the right information from a credible resource is critical.... Here's a breakdown of some of the tools and features that you can find at Healthcare.gov. [1] Understand the Affordable Care Act as a Small Business Owner ... [2] Find Healthcare Insurance Options for Your Small Business ... [3] Assess and Compare Quality of Care."

How to Take Advantage of the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit

"Does My Business Qualify for the Health Care Tax Credit? ... Who Will the Small Business Tax Credit Help Most? ... How Do I Claim the Tax Credit?"

Saving for Retirement: A Look at Small Business Owners

55 pages. Excerpt: This paper identifies and fills several gaps in our understanding of the retirement savings behavior of business owners and the self-employed. It deals with the retirement savings behavior of business owners; most existing research has examined the retirement savings behavior of workers and families. It analyzes the relative importance of business owner characteristics and characteristics of businesses in determining how business owners and the self-employed save for retirement.

The Relationship Between Employee Turnover and Employee Compensation in Small Business (PDF)

45 pages. Excerpt: The purpose of this study is to examine whether employee turnover differences between small and large firms are the result of differences in wages and benefits or of some form of self-selection where employees of small businesses are simply more prone to high turnover rates than those in larger firms.

How to Claim the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit

"To qualify for the credit, you must meet the following criteria: [1] You must cover at least 50 percent of the cost of single (not family) health care coverage for each of your employees. [2] You must have fewer than 25 full-time equivalent employees (two half-time workers count as one full-timer). [3] Those employees must have average wages of less than $50,000 a year."

Health Insurance in the Small Business Market: Availability, Coverage, and the Effect of Tax Incentives (PDF)

Historically, there have been distinct advantages to obtaining health insurance coverage through an employer. Individuals who receive health insurance coverage through an employer often have the advantages of group rates, risk pooling, and cost sharing that are not available to individuals who purchase health insurance on their own. One distinct advantage to employer-provided health insurance is the Federal, and sometimes state, tax advantages that accrue to employees.

Small Business Retirement Plan Availability and Worker Participation

Excerpt: This study looks at the access and participation of workers in retirement plans offered by their employers. It examines those issues by firm size and finds that workers in large and small firms participate at very similar rates if a retirement plan is made available to them. It also analyzes the reasons workers do not participate even when the employer sponsors a retirement plan. It then discusses several of the issues that face policymakers and how those must be balanced to result in the best outcome.

A Healthy Choice for America's Small Businesses

"Beginning in 2014, small business owners will have access to a Marketplace -- which opens for enrollment on October 1st -- that will allow them to make side-by-side comparisons to find a plan that fits their budget and that's right for their businesses and employees. Each Marketplace will operate a Small Business Health Options Program, or SHOP, focused just on small businesses, where employers will be able to choose from a range of affordable plans to offer their employees.... Although [there have been] claims that the opening of our SHOP marketplaces will be delayed, this is not the case -- these marketplaces will open for enrollment, as planned, on the first of October."

SHOP Early Access Available to Small Businesses in Five States

"The Federally-Facilitated Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) Marketplace Early Access [was launched on Monday, Oct. 27] in Delaware, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey and Ohio. The SHOP Marketplace helps small businesses provide health coverage to their employees and is open to employers with 50 or fewer full-time equivalent employees. 'SHOP Early Access' will allow small businesses, agents, and brokers to try out new online pre-enrollment SHOP features, and help set the stage for the full online debut on November 15."