Pub. 13 2014-2015 Issue 4

N E W J E R S E Y C O A L I T I O N O F A U T O M O T I V E R E T A I L E R S I S S U E N O . 1 , 2 0 1 5 30 new jersey auto retailer ACA Information Reporting: What You Need To Know BY DANIEL KUPERSTEIN, ESQ. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been the primary focus of discussion for Human Resources professionals and benefits managers for the last several years. Many of these discussions have centered on the work that will be required by employers to certify to the government that they are compliant with the law. For the longest time, it seemed like employers simply didn’t know what would be required. Now they know. The government recently released final forms and instructions explain- ing how information reportingwill work under theACA. Specifically, the IRS released final Forms 1094-B, 1095-B, 1094-C, 1095-C, Instruc- tions for Forms 1094-B and 1095-B, Instructions for Forms 1094-C and 1095-C, and IRS Publication 5196. Back in the summer of 2014, the IRS released these as draft forms and instructions. The IRS released draft forms and instructions in Summer 2014 and most of the just-released final forms and instructions are nearly identi- cal. Inotherwords, youhave to readclosely todiscern the actual chang- es. Below is some guidance to make the process a little less painful. What is Information Reporting? Information reporting is a requirement under the ACA that obligates employers to provide employee-specific information to the IRS about the health coverage that is offered. The IRS reviews this information to ensure compliancewith both the Employer Shared ResponsibilityMandate (often referred to as Pay or Play) and the Individual Mandate requirements of the ACA. Appli- cable Large Employers (ALEs), who are employers with 50 or more full-time or full-time equivalent employees, are required to complete these reports, including employer sponsors of both self-insured and fully-insured plans. While the information reporting requirements are significant, em- ployers should also look at this as an opportunity to gather data on their organizations, and to try to put this big data to work to help the enterprise. What Has Changed? When it comes to the B Forms, very little has changed. For example, the revised forms allow coverage providers to use taxpayer identifica- tion numbers (TINs) instead of Social Security numbers if the latter is unavailable. However, the final C Form Instructions make the fol- lowing noteworthy changes to the draft instructions: • Non-EmployeeEnrollment Information: The final instructionsmake an important andverywelcomed clarification forALEswho sponsor self-insured plans. The draft instructions required these employers to use the B Forms for filing enrollment information about non- employees, including non-employee directors, COBRA-qualified beneficiaries and retirees. In contrast, the final instructions clarify