The federal government has extended the Affordable Care Act (ACA or health care reform law) reporting deadlines to give employers more time to meet the requirements.
Previously, employers who provide self-funded coverage had until the end of January 2016 to send a statement — tax form 1095-C — with parts l, ll and lll completed – to all employees eligible for coverage in 2015.
With the extension, employers now have until March 31 to get this information to their workers. They also now have until May 31 to file paper tax forms or until June 30 to send their 1094/1095-C forms to the IRS electronically.
The extension also applies to health insurance companies facing similar reporting requirements. So for fully insured groups, Anthem plans to send out tax form 1095-B as originally scheduled. Our goal is to have all forms mailed by the end of February.
Why reporting is required
The purpose of health law reporting is to show the IRS that affordable coverage was offered to employees. It also shows which employees and dependents are covered, and for how many months out of the year. As you know, the ACA requires all Americans to have health care coverage or face a penalty. The IRS helps enforce this part of the law. To do so, it requires certain tax forms as proof of coverage.
The IRS can also use these forms to track who does or doesn’t have coverage, what companies are or aren’t offering coverage to workers, and levy penalties accordingly. These forms became mandatory with the 2015 tax year. And reporting is required in 2016 for the 2015 coverage year.
More about this can be found within the IRS web site. You can also refer to Anthem’s Employer Mandate Fact Sheet and Anthem’s Minimum Essential Coverage Fact Sheet on reporting.
This applies to
- Wisconsin, Ohio, Missouri, Kentucky, and Indiana
- Small Group and Large Group
Questions? Email tanya@agent-link.net
