Form 1094-C and 1095-C Due Dates

March 31, 2016: supply 1095-C to employees either electronically or by mail

June 30, 2016: e-file 1094-C and 1095-C to the IRS

Note: 1095-C dates have been revised as per IRS Notice 2016-4.

Who Must File

Employers with 50 or more full-time employees (including full-time equivalent employees) in the previous year use Forms 1094-C and 1095-C to report the information required under sections 6055 and 6056 about offers of health coverage and enrollment in health coverage for their employees.

Penalties

Penalties for incorrect or late information return filing (1099-series, W-2 and 1094/1095-C) or recipient delivery were generally doubled in the Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015, Title VIII Section 806, from $100 to $250 for failing to e-file to the IRS or furnish a correct return to the recipient. The maximum annual penalty increased from $1.5M to $3M.

1094-C Terms and Definitions

This is information that’s about the Payer only.

ALE = Applicable Large Employers: Generally employers with 50 or more full-time employees (including full-time equivalent employees) in the previous year.

Aggregated ALE Group: Under the regulations implementing section 6056, an applicable large employer may be a single entity or may consist of a group of related entities (such as parent and subsidiary or other affiliated entities). In either case, these reporting requirements apply to each separate entity and each separate entity is referred to as an applicable large employer member (ALE member).

Authoritative Transmittal: Only one per Employer per year. The Authoritative Transmittal reports aggregate employer-level data for the employer. If multiple Forms 1094-C are being filed for an employer so that Forms 1095-C for all full-time employees of the employer are not attached to a single Form 1094-C transmittal (because Forms 1095-C for some full-time employees of the employer are being transmitted separately), one of the Forms 1094-C must report aggregate employer-level data for the employer and be identified on line 19 as the Authoritative Transmittal. (From Track1099: if you think you may wish to add new 1095-Cs after e-filing to the IRS, you should not check the “Authoritative transmission” box until after all 1095-Cs have been entered.)

Qualifying Offer Method: A “Qualifying Offer” is an offer that satisfies all of the following criteria:

  • An offer of minimum essential coverage that provides minimum value;
  • The employee cost for employee-only coverage for each month does not exceed 9.5 percent of the mainland single federal poverty line divided by 12; and
  • An offer of minimum essential coverage is also made to the employee’s spouse and dependents (if any).

Section 4980H Transition Relief: The IRS has a long section on how Employers may qualify for transition relief as they transition to ACA. Please see the specifics here.

1095-C Definition of Terms

The 1095-C is issued to each Employee and contains employee-specific information. It may be issued electronically or via postal mail.

For additional details on 1095-C, please see here.

Plan Start Month: This box is optional for the 2015 Form 1095-C and the employer may leave it blank.

Line 14 Employee Offer Codes

Code Series 1— Offer of Coverage. The Code Series 1 indicator codes specify the type of coverage, if any, offered to an employee, the employee’s spouse, and the employee’s dependents. The term “dependent” has the specific meaning set forth in the Definitions section of these instructions. In addition, for this purpose an offer of coverage is treated as made to an employee’s dependents only if the offer of coverage is made to an unlimited number of dependents regardless of the actual number of dependents, if any, an employee has during any particular calendar month.

An offer of COBRA continuation coverage that is made to a former employee upon termination of employment should not be reported as an offer of coverage on line 14. For a terminated employee, code 1H (No offer of coverage) should be entered for any month for which the offer of COBRA continuation coverage applies.

An offer of COBRA continuation coverage that is made to an active employee (for instance, an offer of COBRA continuation coverage that is made due to a reduction in the employee’s hours that resulted in the employee no longer being eligible for coverage under a plan) is reported in the same manner and using the same code as an offer of that type of coverage to any other active employee.

If the type of coverage, if any, offered to an employee was the same for all 12 months in the calendar year, enter the Code Series 1 indicator code corresponding to the type of coverage offered in the “All 12 Months” box or in each of the 12 boxes for the calendar months.

1A. Qualifying Offer: Minimum essential coverage providing minimum value offered to full-time employee with employee contribution for self-only coverage equal to or less than 9.5% mainland single federal poverty line and at least minimum essential coverage offered to spouse and dependent(s).

Tip: This code may be used to report for specific months for which a Qualifying Offer was made, even if the employee did not receive a Qualifying Offer for all 12 months of the calendar year. However, an employer may not use the Alternative Furnishing Method for an employee who did not receive a Qualifying Offer for all 12 calendar months (except in cases in which the employer is eligible for and reports using the Alternative Furnishing Method for 2015 Qualifying Offer Method Transition Relief as described in these instructions).

1B. Minimum essential coverage providing minimum value offered to employee only.

1C. Minimum essential coverage providing minimum value offered to employee and at least minimum essential coverage offered to dependent(s) (not spouse).

1D. Minimum essential coverage providing minimum value offered to employee and at least minimum essential coverage offered to spouse (not dependent(s)).

1E. Minimum essential coverage providing minimum value offered to employee and at least minimum essential coverage offered to dependent(s) and spouse.

1F. Minimum essential coverage NOT providing minimum value offered to employee; employee and spouse or dependent(s); or employee, spouse and dependents.

1G. Offer of coverage to employee who was not a full-time employee for any month of the calendar year (which may include one or more months in which the individual was not an employee) and who enrolled in self-insured coverage for one or more months of the calendar year.

1H. No offer of coverage (employee not offered any health coverage or employee offered coverage that is not minimum essential coverage, which may include one or more months in which the individual was not an employee).

1I. Qualifying Offer Transition Relief 2015: Employee (and spouse or dependents) received no offer of coverage; received an offer that is not a qualifying offer; or received a qualifying offer for less than 12 months.

Line 15. Complete line 15 only if code 1B, 1C, 1D, or 1E is entered on line 14 either in the “All 12 Months” box or in any of the monthly boxes.

Line 16 Safe Harbor Codes

Code Series 2—Section 4980H Safe Harbor Codes and Other Relief for Employers. An employer enters the applicable Code Series 2 indicator code, if any, on line 16 to report for one or more months of the calendar year that one of the following situations applied to the employee: the employee was not employed or was not a full-time employee; the employee enrolled in the minimum essential coverage offered; the employee was in a Limited Non-Assessment Period with respect to section 4980H(b); non-calendar year transition relief applied to the employee; the employer met one of the section 4980H affordability safe harbors with respect to this employee; or the employer was eligible for multiemployer interim rule relief for this employee. In some circumstances more than one situation could apply to the same employee in the same month. For example, an employee could be enrolled in health coverage for a particular month during which he or she is not a full-time employee. However, only one code may be used for a particular calendar month. For any month in which an employee enrolled in minimum essential coverage, indicator code 2C reporting enrollment is used instead of any other indicator code that could also apply (but see the exception to this rule below, regarding the multiemployer interim rule relief). For an employee who did not enroll in health coverage, there are some specific ordering rules for which code to use. See the descriptions of the codes.

2A. Employee not employed during the month. Enter code 2A if the employee was not employed on any day of the calendar month. Do not use code 2A for a month if the individual was an employee of the employer on any day of the calendar month. Do not use code 2A for the month during which an employee terminates employment with the employer.

2B. Employee not a full-time employee. Enter code 2B if the employee is not a full-time employee for the month and did not enroll in minimum essential coverage, if offered for the month. Enter code 2B also if the employee is a full-time employee for the month and whose offer of coverage (or coverage if the employee was enrolled) ended before the last day of the month solely because the employee terminated employment during the month (so that the offer of coverage or coverage would have continued if the employee had not terminated employment during the month). Also use this code for January 2015 if the employee was offered health coverage no later than the first day of the first payroll period that begins in January 2015 and the coverage offered was affordable for purposes of the employer shared responsibility provisions under section 4980H and provided minimum value.

2C. Employee enrolled in coverage offered. Enter code 2C for any month in which the employee enrolled in health coverage offered by the employer for each day of the month, regardless of whether any other code in Code Series 2 (other than code 2E) might also apply (for example, the code for a section 4980H affordability safe harbor). Do not enter 2C in line 16 if code 1G is entered in the All 12 Months Box in line 14 because the employee was not a full-time employee for any months of the calendar year. Do not enter code 2C in line 16 for any month in which a terminated employee is enrolled in COBRA continuation coverage (enter code 2A).

2D. Employee in a section 4980H(b) Limited Non-Assessment Period. Enter code 2D for any month during which an employee is in a Limited Non-Assessment Period for section 4980H(b).

If an employee is in an initial measurement period, enter code 2D (employee in a section 4980H(b) Limited Non-Assessment Period) for the month, and not code 2B (employee not a full-time employee). For an employee in a section 4980H(b) Limited Non-Assessment Period for whom the employer is also eligible for the multiemployer interim rule relief for the month, enter code 2E (multiemployer interim rule relief) and not code 2D (employee in a Limited Non-Assessment Period).

2E. Multiemployer interim rule relief. Enter code 2E for any month for which the multiemployer arrangement interim guidance applies for that employee, regardless of whether any other code in Code Series 2 (including code 2C) might also apply. This relief is described under Offer of Health Coverage in the Definitions section of these instructions.

2F. Section 4980H affordability Form W-2 safe harbor. Enter code 2F if the employer used the section 4980H Form W-2 safe harbor to determine affordability for purposes of section 4980H(b) for this employee for the year. If an employer uses this safe harbor for an employee, it must be used for all months of the calendar year for which the employee is offered health coverage.

2G. Section 4980H affordability federal poverty line safe harbor. Enter code 2G if the employer used the section 4980H federal poverty line safe harbor to determine affordability for purposes of section 4980H(b) for this employee for any month(s).

2H. Section 4980H affordability rate of pay safe harbor. Enter code 2H if the employer used the section 4980H rate of pay safe harbor to determine affordability for purposes of section 4980H(b) for this employee for any month(s).

Note: Codes 2F through 2H: Although employers may use the section 4980H affordability safe harbors to determine affordability for purposes of the multiemployer arrangement interim guidance, an employer eligible for the relief provided in the multiemployer arrangement interim guidance for a month for an employee should enter code 2E (multiemployer interim rule relief), and not a code for the section 4980H affordability safe harbors (codes 2F, 2G, or 2H).

2I. Non-calendar year transition relief applies to this employee. Enter code 2I if non-calendar year transition relief for section 4980H(b) applies to this employee for the month. See the instructions later under Section 4980H Transition Relief for 2015 and 2015 Section 4980H(b) Transition Relief for Employers with Non-Calendar Year Plans (Form 1095-C, line 16, code 2I), for a description of this relief.

Lines 17-22 Covered Individuals

  1. If any, must also include the employee.
  2. Complete Part III ONLY if the employer offers employer-sponsored self-insured health coverage in which the employee or other individual enrolled. For this purpose, employer-sponsored self-insured health coverage does not include coverage under a multiemployer plan.
  3. Use individual’s Social Security Number or Date of Birth.