CARB exemption, Obamacare deadlines this weekend

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Updated Feb 1, 2016

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The California Air Resources Board’s “Low Use Vehicle Exemption” to the board’s Statewide Truck & Bus Rule governing in-use diesel emissions within the state is extended to equipment that …

1) Operates fewer than 5,000 total miles within a calendar year — not likely to apply to many Overdrive readers — or, more likely to apply,
2) Operates fewer than 1,000 total annual miles within California’s borders.

truck at portJanuary 31 is the annual deadline to register with CARB to take advantage of the exemption if you’re operating non-CARB-compliant equipment and expect to make a run or two into and out of the state this year.

To register with CARB and report mileage prior to the deadline, truck owners who’ve not already registered can follow this link to create a new account in CARB’s reporting system and proceed from there.

More detail on the specifics of the Low-Use Vehicle Exemption is available via the Q&A document at this link.

Still not sure if your equipment is CARB-compliant or not? Utilize our interactive tool to find out via this link. Generally, trucks with pre-2007 emissions-spec engines are not compliant today. All newer equipment is compliant through at least year 2023.

Find more resources via our comprehensive Truck & Bus Rule reporting from year 2013, the final year of compliance, notwithstanding phase-in options for fleets, for pre-2007-spec engines:

Health insurance exchanges close after Sunday
The 2015-16 open enrollment period for federal, state-run and private health insurance exchanges enabled by the Affordable Care Act, aka “Obamacare,” likewise comes to a close this Sunday. The ACA’s individual mandate requires individuals to be covered by an ACA-compliant plan in 2016 or pay a penalty on their 2017 tax returns.

Owner-operators who stay uninsured during 2016 can expect to pay 2.5 percent of modified adjusted gross income – income after expenses and some deductions — on those returns. In 2014, the penalty was assessed at much lower levels – 1 percent.

As previously noted, owner-operator business services firm ATBS reported an average penalty for clients who paid one for the 2014 tax year as $255. Extrapolating from that figure, average penalties assessed in 2017 after the 2016 tax year might reach close to $800.

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Below find links to our most recent reporting on the ACA, including a guide to getting covered through the various exchanges.