BTerrell Group Blog

Back in February of 2015, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released the draft forms associated with Affordable Care Act (ACA) compliance.  The forms have been revised and finalized during the year and are ready for businesses that are obligated to comply with this legislation.  The forms aren’t difficult to complete, it’s the data needed on them that can be difficult to gather.  Read on to learn what you need to know about these forms to maintain compliance with the ACA.

The IRS published a brochure to assist businesses with understanding ACA reporting obligations and a link is included in, “IRS Issues Forms and Instructions for ACA Reporting,” posted by Stephen Miller on SHRM.org.  Form 1095-B: Health Coverage is to be provided to taxpayers by insurers and also by self-insured employers not subject to the employer ‘shared responsibility’ mandate.  Form 1095-C is the form to be prepared by applicable large providers or those with 50 or more full-time employees or full-time equivalents (FTEs).  There are also transmittal forms for both of those documents, Form 1094-B and Form 1094-C.  Businesses need to track the number of full-time employees and FTEs, each calendar month, including the social security numbers for the employees, spouses, and their dependents.  Then, employers need to identify the employee share of lowest-cost monthly premium or minimum value coverage and the applicable transition relief indicators and safe harbors – for each calendar month.  Capturing this data by hand will be tedious and introduces an opportunity for mistakes due to simple human error.

Don’t put your business at risk for expensive fines. Put the technology in place that supports ACA reporting efforts.  Modern human resources management systems can provide a centralized location for payroll, benefits, and other employee data needed for ACA reporting.  The easier you can access this data, the more productive your people can be while calculating and reporting ACA data.  In addition, the less time your team spends on ACA issues, the more time they will have for other important business operations.

Depending on your status as an employer, there are only two forms you need for ACA compliance.  That’s the easy part.  The hard part is capturing the data needed for those forms.  Contact BTerrell Group for more information about ACA requirements and the solutions that can streamline ACA reporting.

By BTerrell Group, an Intacct Premier Partner and Sage ERP Partner

Keywords:  Affordable Care Act, ACA compliance, Form 1095-C, human resources management systems, data needed for ACA reporting, calculating and reporting ACA data, ACA requirements, solutions to streamline ACA reporting, Intacct Premier Partner, Sage ERP Partner