17 Jan ACA reporting and filing activity intensifies as deadline approaches

By Anita Byer, Setnor Byer Insurance & Risk

The beginning of the new year means that it is time for Applicable Large Employers to turn their attention to the Affordable Care Act’s annual information reporting requirements. Employers with 50 or more full-time or full-time equivalent employees during the preceding calendar year are generally considered Applicable Large Employers (ALEs) under the ACA. As such, they are required to furnish and file information statements relating to health insurance that was offered to their full-time employees during the preceding calendar year.

To comply with the ACA’s reporting requirements, ALEs are generally required to furnish a Form 1095-C (Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage) to each full-time employee. Applicable Large Employers must also file every Form 1095-C with the IRS, along with Form 1094-C (Transmittal of Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage Information Returns). The deadlines to furnish and file these forms for 2023 occur in early 2024, but this year will be a little different because it is a leap year.

Furnish Information Statements to Full-Time Employees. The original deadline for ALEs to furnish each year’s Form 1095-C to full-time employees was January 31 of the following year, but this deadline was extended annually by the IRS. In 2022, the IRS permanently extended the deadline by granting ALEs an automatic 30-day extension to furnish Forms 1095-C to full-time employees. With the automatic extension, the deadline would be March 2, but since 2024 is a leap year, the deadline to furnish the 2023 Form 1095-C to full-time employees is March 1, 2024.

Electronically File Information Returns and Transmittals with the IRS. Applicable Large Employers are required to file every Form 1095-C, along with Form 1094-C, with the IRS. (This deadline was not extended by the IRS.) The normal deadline to electronically file these forms is March 31, but because this date falls on a Sunday this year, the deadline for ALEs to electronically file their 2023 forms with the IRS is April 1, 2024.

Note that there is a separate deadline for forms submitted to the IRS on paper, which is February 28, 2024. However, to encourage the electronic filing of these forms, the IRS decreased the electronic-filing threshold from 250 forms to ten forms. As a result, ALEs filing ten or more forms in the aggregate must do so electronically.

Applicable Large Employers must take their ACA reporting obligations seriously. The penalty for failing to properly file the required ACA reporting forms can be up to $630 per form. The deadlines are approaching quickly, so there is no time to waste. Please contact us if you would like to learn more about ACA-compliant group health plans.