Unique ACA Challenges Employers with Multiemployer Plans Face

ALEs, or Applicable Large Employers, who contribute to a multiemployer health coverage plan will face some unique challenges when reporting their offers of coverage to the IRS on Forms 1094-C and 1095-C. Multiemployer plans - so we’re all on the same page here - are plans that cover employees of unrelated companies as settled upon in a collective bargaining agreement.

Internal Revenue Code Section 6056 indicates multiemployer plan administrators may prepare their return for employees eligible for the multiemployer plan, reporting information on the plan and the ALE member. However, when the Forms 1094-C and 1095-C were finalized and published by the IRS, the instructions didn’t appear to provide any way for a plan administrator to do this. In other words, it appears that ALE members must report full-time employees eligible for a multiemployer plan and that ALE member is responsible for any incorrect reporting and subsequent penalties incurred.

It is true that ALE members must file a Form 1095-C for each full-time employee and provide information regarding the offer of health coverage. However, in the case of multiemployer arrangements, ALEs typically don’t make the direct offer of coverage. This means you’ll need to get details of the offer(s) from your coverage provider.

As for reporting your data on Forms 1094-C and 1095-C, the Preamble to the Code Section 4980H has included interim guidelines for employers who contribute to a multiemployer plan:

• On Form 1094-C, Part III, column (a), treat all the employees you contribute to the multiemployer plan as if they have been offered minimum essential coverage (MEC), even if they haven’t, for the months you’re eligible to use interim guidance.
• On Form 1095-C, Part II, line 14, enter the code of health coverage that corresponds with the coverage actually offered to the employee, even if it contradicts what you included on Form 1094-C in Part III.
• On Form 1095-C, complete lines 15 and 16 as usual, including the premium amount (line 15) and any applicable Safe Harbor relief code (line 16).
• If you’re completing multiple 1094-C Forms for one ALE member, one of the forms must be marked as the authoritative transmittal copy. This copy must include aggregate employer-level data for all full-time employees.
• Sponsors or insurers of multiemployer plans are required to furnish information about health coverage to any enrolled employees on Forms 1094-B and 1095-B. ALE members should not complete Form 1095-C, Part III for these employees.

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