As experts in 1095 reporting, employee benefits and everything Affordable Care Act related, we are uniquely prepared to assist employers in the completing of all of their IRC 6055 & IRC 6056 obligations. Employers recognize that ACA compliance is critical to their success as a business. ACA Reporting Service is a full service Affordable Care Act (ACA) reporting company. Under ACA, regularly known as Obamacare, Applicable Large Employers must report annually to the IRS the type and cost of medical plans offered to their full time employee population. As it turns out, this reporting is extremely complex and requires an extensive knowledge of employee benefits in order to be done well. Our ACA reporting solution was built out of an in-depth knowledge and understanding of employee benefits. This is the major difference between our solution and the majority of our competitors who approached this reporting from a technology or payroll background. Because we know well the actual individuals who are ultimately responsible for this annual reporting (human resource directors, finance directors & benefit brokers) and the type of functions they perform each day, we were able to design a client experience to fit them perfectly. Most importantly, we understand that our #1 focus and goal is to be a service company delivering a great client experience. It is this focus on serving our clients which helped us to achieve a 98%+ client satisfaction rate.

The decision is certain to be appealed. In fact, house leader Nancy Pelosi almost instantly challenged the decision and said that when Democrats take the house in January, they will certainly appeal. This is widely anticipated to lead to a very long legal battle between Democrats and Republicans.

In the meantime, the current ACA law stands. The white house released a formal statement reiterating just that. White house press secretary Sarah Sanders stated that, “Obamacare will remain in effect while the case is appealed”.

Most legal scholars believe that this case will ultimately be heard by the supreme court. Until then nothing will change with how our current healthcare system operates.

This means that Employers must still comply with the Employer Mandate. ACA Reporting is still required by law and employees must receive their forms 1095C no later than the extended deadline of March 4th 2019, for the 2018 reporting year.

On November 29th the IRS released notice 2018-94, which serves to extend the due date for certain 2018 information-reporting requirements for insurers, self-insuring employers, and certain other providers of minimum essential coverage under section 6055 of the Internal Revenue Code (Code) and for applicable large employers under section 6056 of the Code.

The notice specifically mentions that failure to comply with new due dates will result in penalties for Applicable Large Employers (ALEs). The notice states “Employers or other coverage providers that do not comply with the due dates for furnishing Forms 1095-B and 1095-C (as extended under the rules described above) or for filing Forms 1094-B, 1095-B, 1094-C, or 1095-C are subject to penalties under sections 6722 or 6721 for failure to timely furnish and file, respectively. However, employers and other coverage providers that do not meet the relevant due dates should still furnish and file.”

ACA Reporting Service is a leading full service vendor for ACA reporting since the inception of the law in 2014. We work directly with employers as well as partnering with HR firms, Staffing companies and many others needing an expert partner for backend fulfillment for their clientele. Reach out to our customer service team for more details at 844-829-0738 or email us: support@staffaca.com.

SelfInsuredReporting.com is a financial reporting and claim analytics system specifically designed for self insured employers.  Their platform helps you quickly answer questions such as:

• How is our plan performing versus our budget for the year? How about our stop loss contract?
• What are the costs expected to be for the rest of the plan year? What is my expected renewal?
• How are the medical and pharmacy claims trending for each plan? What about network performance?
• How are claims trending for conditions such as cancer or diabetes?
• Which providers are the most expensive in an area?
• Are there opportunities to ‘drive’ services from one provider to a lower cost provider, such as from an emergency room to an urgent care facility?

Learn more at SelfInsuredReporting.com

At Sky Insurance Tech, we do a good deal of penalty consulting for prospective clients. These are almost always clients that did their reporting with a lower priced, sub-par vendor, if they did their reporting at all. Recently, we have been getting a ton of phone calls regarding letter 5699 from the IRS for the 2016 tax year.

Letter 5699 is what the IRS uses to inquire about an employer’s reason for not properly filing their forms 1094/1095C. Employers who receive this letter have 30 days to respond. If the employer cannot prove that the letter was sent in error, then there is serious consequence, including a letter 226J for the 2016 tax year.

The IRS didn’t issue 2015 letter 226J penalty assessments until November 1^st of 2017. However, November 1^st of 2018 is right around the corner, which is the time frame we are expecting to see the 2016 penalty letters released. It is also important to note that just because the 2016 notices are set to be issued, this does not mean that the 2015 notices are finished being distributed.

For these reasons we encourage employers to revisit their previous year’s filings. Make sure that these were both accurate and timely.

If assistance is needed with either previous reporting years, or with penalty notices from the IRS, we are here to help.