Updating yearly data now can smooth the 1095 reporting at tax time, experts say.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has released the final tax forms for reporting the 2018 health insurance coverage details required to document employer compliance with health mandates of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). But tick, tock—employers only have until Feb. 28, 2019 to gather and submit all compliance documentation.
Forms must be distributed to employees by Jan. 31, 2019. Employers must file paperwork with the IRS establishing ACA compliance by Feb. 28, 2019.
The short turnaround for corporate filing—and the need to gather information from employees during a busy holiday season—means HR teams need to have a plan in place to distribute forms as soon as possible, several follow-up avenues to remind employees to fill out the forms, and a task plan ready to chase down employees who wait until the last minute to submit their forms.
No extension was issued last year, and the chances of an IRS deadline extension this year is unlikely, notes Kim Buckey, vice president of client services at DirectPath, a benefits education, enrollment and health care transparency firm, in an article for the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). “Employers can save themselves time, money and effort by carefully reviewing the data before year-end to ensure that full-time employees are correctly identified, and that the company is designing its programs to offer affordable coverage to all full-time employees.”
Download a PDF of the instructions for tax forms 1094-C and 1095-C here.
Other IRS forms:
- Transmittal Form 1094-C to accompany Form 1095-C.
- Form 1095-C, Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage.
- Transmittal Form 1094-B to accompany Form 1095-B.
- Form 1095-B, Health Coverage.
- Instructions for Forms 1094-B and 1095-B.
