When and who should file Forms 1095-A, 1095-B, and 1095-C
Published in BenefitsPro – February 1, 2016 | by Pamela Evette
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) reporting deadlines are rapidly approaching, presenting a major administrative burden for employers who face penalties for failing to report in a timely and accurate manner.
While there has been significant discussion of employer roles and responsibilities, employees have been largely left out of the equation.
However, many employees will soon be receiving new forms that are critical to their ability to file their tax returns and to their employers’ ability to accurately fulfill their own reporting requirements. Among these are Forms 1095-A, 1095-B, and 1095-C.
With this in mind, it is important for employers to educate individual taxpayers on what they are required to do and when and how to complete these requirements in the easiest and most efficient manner.
1095-C
The most commonly received form will be the new 1095-C, which millions of Americans will be receiving for the first time this year.
This new government form is used to tell the Internal Revenue Service that you were eligible for insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act and whether you took advantage of or waived this coverage.
This form will be sent by employers no later than February 1, 2016 to all eligible full-time employees who worked for a company with a total of 100 or more full-time or full-time equivalent employees in 2015. For the purposes of this form, full-time is any employee working 30 or more hours per week or 130 hours in a calendar month.
According to the IRS guidance, Form 1095-C helps to determine whether both the employer and the employee have complied with the “shared responsibility” clause of the ACA.
The form also determines whether an individual or family qualifies for the Premium Tax Credit, which reduces the burden of purchasing health insurance.
Anyone who does not have coverage elsewhere and chose to decline employer-sponsored health care coverage will be required to pay a penalty for not carrying coverage–this penalty will be assessed on their tax return.
For 2015, the penalty for declining all health care coverage is $325 per uninsured adult and $162.50 per uninsured child or 2 percent of household income, whichever is greater up to a family maximum of $975.
The penalty will increase to $695 per uninsured adult and $347.50 per child or 2.5 percent of household income up to a family maximum of $2,085 in 2016, and will continue to rise with inflation year-over-year.
However, the IRS offers special exemptions based on income, circumstance and membership in certain groups, so those without coverage should research their options or consult a tax professional. (The most common exemption is for those who declined employer-sponsored coverage that would have cost more than 8 percent of their total household income.)
Health care exemptions can be claimed by filing IRS form 8965 with your taxes. As previously noted, the form also determines who may be eligible for premium credits to help defray the expense of coverage.
Employers are required to submit insurance coverage information, along with social security numbers and other identifying employee information to the IRS, and employee failure to disclose a waiver of coverage may result in an audit and penalties greater than the ACA individual mandate penalty.
Read the full article here: http://www.benefitspro.com/2016/02/01/what-employees-need-to-know-now-to-file-tax-forms/
PDF of full article here: What employees need to know now to file tax forms for PPACA | BenefitsPro
