Affordable Care Act: Annual Reporting and Filing Deadlines Are on the Horizon

The deadlines for large employers to comply with the Affordable Care Act’s annual information reporting requirements are almost here. Employers have been given an extension of time to furnish 2018 information statements to employees, but the deadline to file information returns with the Internal Revenue Service has NOT been extended.

Applicable Large Employers, which are generally those with 50 or more full-time or full-time equivalent employees in the previous year, must do the following to comply with the ACA’s 2018 annual reporting requirements.

Furnish Information Statements to Full-Time Employees. The IRS extended the deadline to provide Form 1095-C (Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage) to full-time employees from January 31, 2019 to March 4, 2019. This is the third consecutive year that the IRS has extended this deadline.

File Information Returns and Transmittals with the IRS. Every Form 1095-C along with Form 1094-C (Transmittal of Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage Information Returns) must be filed with the IRS on or before February 28, 2019 (April 1, 2019, if filed electronically). The IRS did NOT extend this filing deadline. However, employers may request an automatic 30-day extension by filing Form 8809 before the ACA filing deadline.

For 2018, the IRS also extended the good-faith relief from penalties that may be levied against employers for failing to properly file or furnish these forms, which can be $270 per form. The maximum penalty can be $3,275,500.

This relief only applies to employers that make a good-faith effort to comply. It does not apply to those that fail to file or furnish forms by the due dates. This means that incomplete or incorrect forms may be better than no forms at all.

The Human Equation prepares all risk management and insurance content with the professional guidance of Setnor Byer Insurance & Risk.