Paving the 1095 road: What you need to know in 2016

Reminder: 1095 Reporting Deadlines Coming Soon...
 
The Affordable Care Act requirements for reporting employees and the respective benefit information still apply to all employers with 50 or more full-time or equivalent employees for the preceding calendar year. 

Both mid-size and large businesses must implement and follow precise protocol for meeting these requirements by the governments' extended deadline.
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With all of the numeric labels and seemingly convoluted information, it is no wonder that many employers are still lost with how their employees' data must be reported and why. To simplify--we'll stick to calling it "1095 reporting".  Here is the gist for most employer groups:

• Employers will need to complete the “1095-C” reporting (even if sponsoring or participating in a fully insured or self-funded plan).  The “1095-B” reporting is typically for insurance carriers.
• Most large employers must submit their ACA reporting forms to the IRS each year by February 28st or file electronically by March 31st.
• Employers will need to complete a 1095-C for each full-time employee and distribute to these employees by January 31st each year. (Note that the 1095 forms are very similar to the W2 forms issued to employees).
• Basically, employers will send all of the 1095-C forms along with the 1094-C form (as a cover page) to the IRS by the deadlines mentioned earlier.

The government has made these forms quite complex, with specific codes that the employer must utilize throughout the form. While the form completion process is both time-consuming and costly, Cobra Help will continue to assist employers in reporting accurate employee health coverage data for COBRA participants in any way that we can. While we do not provide outsourced 1095s as a service, we can provide the data that our clients need for the health coverage section of the required forms. Our tip to you is--START EARLY as the deadlines are fast approaching.

FYI: Government Extended Deadlines for ACA Reporting this year. They will not be extending this for next year according to experts. 

Employers subject to ACA reporting requirements were given extra time to give these form to employees and file them with the IRS. See Notice 2016-4, issued by the IRS on December 28, 2015 or refer to this simple deadline chart:

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