What’s Different This Year?
With all the summer legislative drama and Washington debates about the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in the past few months, employers are left pondering – what exactly IS DIFFERENT for employers when it comes to 2017 ACA reporting?
Well, not much. The reporting component of ACA is virtually the same. Applicable Large Employers (those with 50 employees or more OR self-insured employers, regardless of size) must report insurance offers and insurance coverage on their full-time (and full-time equivalent) employees. Employees must receive their 1095C forms by January 31, 2018, and the employer must then submit the 1094C transmittal along with the 1095Cs to the IRS by March 31, 2018.
Lower Poverty Level Percentage
One slight difference for 2017 ACA reporting is the lowering of the federal poverty level from 9.69% to 9.56%. The new percentage means that to be affordable, the lowest monthly insurance premium must be below 9.56% of an employee’s monthly household income. Oh, and the enrollment period for marketplace insurance ends December 15, 2017 (shorter window than last year). In 2018 some minor preventive measures go into effect, but other that these few things, nothing is different.
Penalties Will Apply
There are rumblings from the IRS about non-compliant employers who will receive penalty notices, which is different from last year. Up to now, the penalty and assessment rules of ACA have not been enforced.
According to the IRS, however, employers who have not complied with ACA regulations will be notified of long overdue penalties and assessments very soon. Employers might ask themselves just how serious the IRS is about going after non-compliant employers. Well, the IRS expects to pull in over $200 billion in ACA penalties. That’s pretty serious.
2017 ACA Reporting: No Time to Wait
So, there’s not much different this year for ACA except looming penalties, and non-compliant employers need to get their house in order. How?
- Take correction steps.
- File as soon as possible.
- Make every effort to avoid a federal ACA audit.
- Consider a 3rd party provider such as ACA-Track. Click here to schedule a no-obligation demonstration of ACA-Track.
