ACA Form 1094-C Certification of Eligibility

Applicable Large Employers (ALEs) may be eligible for relief from certain requirements as they transition to payroll and benefits systems that meet Affordable Care Act standards.

In order to indicate to the IRS that they were eligible for this relief on their 2015 ACA return, ALEs will check a box indicating which Certification of Eligibility they qualified for on Line 22 of Form 1094-C. In this post, we’ve compiled a list of the four methods of relief found on Line 22 and how eligibility for them can be met.

Qualifying Offer Method (Box A)
A Qualifying Offer applies if you (the ALE) made a minimum value (MV) offer to at least one full-time employee for each month of the year they were full-time. Additionally, you would’ve needed to offer minimum essential coverage (MEC) to the employee’s spouse and dependent(s) that cost them no more than 9.5% of the federal poverty line (FPL).

Qualifying Offer Method Transition Relief (Box B)
This method of relief is available for the 2015 tax year only. An ALE must have made a qualifying offer (as described above) to 70% of their full-time employees for one or more months of the year. Filing Bonus: If you check Box A or B on your 1094-C, you can use a simplified, generic Form 1095-C instead of individual forms.

Section 4980H Transition Relief (Box C)
Section 4980H relief has two types, depending on just how LE of an ALE you are:

• Option 1: ALEs with 50-99 FT employees are eligible if they didn’t reduce their workforce or their employees’ hours of work in order to meet ACA compliance requirements. They also can’t have reduced or eliminated coverage offered.
• Option 2: ALEs with 100+ FT employees with this eligibility are subject to assessable penalty reduced by 80 employees instead of the standard 30.

98% Offer Method (Box D)
ALEs are eligible to check this box if they made an offer of affordable coverage (that meets MV qualifications) for every month of the year to at least 98% of the employees for whom they’re filing 1095-C forms. These can be enrolled full-time and part-time employees.

If you’re eligible for one of these relief methods, be sure to indicate so on your Form 1094-C. ExpressIRSForms can help prompt you to do this when you e-file your ACA Forms through our system, saving you from making any filing errors. For help getting started, you can call our support team in Rock Hill, SC at (704) 684-4751 Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. EDT. After hours, we offer assistance via our email, support@ExpressIRSForms.com.





Looking for something a little less hands-on? Check out ExpressACAForms, our full-service ACA e-filing option.

Read More »

Got A Lot of ACA Forms to Send Out? Bulk Upload to File in Minutes!

ExpressIRSForms has always worked to make e-filing your information returns with the IRS as easy and hassle-free as possible. That’s why we introduced the Bulk Upload feature with one of our first releases, allowing users to seamlessly upload information and create 1099 or W-2 forms.

Now that you can e-file ACA Forms 1094 and 1095 with ExpressIRSForms, the Bulk Upload feature has been tuned up to include these forms as well!

After you start to e-file ACA Forms 1095-B or 1095-C, you’re asked if you want to enter your employee/recipient information individually or all at once. If you opt for all at once, you’re taken to a screen where you can download our ACA Bulk Upload Excel Template to use or upload one of your own.

Once you upload that template, your ACA forms are completed, without you re-entering all the information you already have into little boxes on a computer screen for (what would at least seem like) hours.

And soon, you’ll even be able to use our Bulk Upload option with file formats other than Excel! We’re working now to add the option to upload already completed ACA PDFs for filers who have their forms but no way to e-file them.

Ready to start e-filing? Log into your ExpressIRSForms account to e-file your ACA forms with the IRS today! If you need help getting started, you can give us a call at (704) 684-4751 during our office hours, which are Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. EDT, or send us an email anytime at support@ExpressIRSForms.com.




Looking for something a little less hands-on? Check out ExpressACAForms, our full-service ACA e-filing option.

Read More »

There's an ACA Deadline This Month! Are You Ready?

As some of ExpressIRSForms’s regular readers may already know, May marks the first month ever with an OFFICIAL IRS DEADLINE FOR ACA FORMS.

This particular deadline was first set to occur at the end of February, following in line with the 1099 and W-2 deadlines to which we’re all accustomed. But since the IRS felt everyone (themselves included) needed a little more time to understand their ACA reporting and get it in order, they extended each deadline by 2-3 months, giving filers more time to prepare.

So while we’ve already had an ACA deadline this year (back on March 31 with the recipient copies), what we haven’t had is a firm, official ACA deadline for filing with the IRS. Until now.

Your recipient copies, due out by March 31 this year and by January 31 in future years, are good practice for getting the IRS copies of your documents correctly filed the first time through (because they’ll need to be correct for your recipients to make any use of them). They’re not, however, a good example of a hard deadline because unless a recipient reports their 1095 missing or not delivered with the IRS, you’re not really held accountable for getting them out on time.

But, seriously, you might want to make sure that doesn’t happen because you could incur some hefty fines, and the IRS will have to launch an investigation into all of your ACA reporting to ensure you’re compliant with the new laws.

If you’re late on this month’s deadline, you can still get a little bit of a break. May 31 is the paper filing deadline (typically it’ll be February 28/29), but the e-filing deadline isn’t until June 30. Since the IRS doesn’t know/care whether you paper file, you’re welcome to e-file if it’s getting close to May 31 and you’re nowhere near ready.

Okay, so that was a bit of a stretch: the IRS does care if you paper file. They care if you e-file. But what the IRS really cares about is if you don’t do either, which you can read about in our ACA penalties blog so we can get back to the matter at hand.

If you do intend to paper file, make sure that 1) you don’t have more than 250 of any one form (1095-B, 1095-C) to file and 2) you have them signed-sealed-delivered on time:

1. Like W-2s, 1099s, and most other IRS information returns, if you have more than 250 forms to file, the IRS requires you e-file them. Which, is kind of a bonus anyway, because it’ll take a lot less time to e-file 250 forms than paper file them, and you get more time to do it!
2. If there’s a chance your paper documents will be late, go ahead and plan to e-file. Most ACA e-filing companies (ExpressIRSForms and our affiliates, ExpressACAForms and ACAwise, included) can help you get your e-forms filled out and submitted based on the information you’ve already gathered. In other words, don’t worry if you miss the May 31 deadline; we’ve got your back on this.

If you have any questions about getting started e-filing your ACA forms (or while in the middle of e-filing them, or even after they’re submitted), you can always reach out to ExpressIRSForms’s friendly, US-based customer support team. We’re available Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. EDT, by phone (704-684-4751) and live chat (www.ExpressIRSForms.com). You can also send us an email anytime at support@ExpressIRSForms.com.

Read More »