More draft 1094/1095 B and C forms for 2015 IRS Affordable Care Act Reporting—I know, because at the end of Q2, we want more drafts. The good news is that the latest drafts released on June 16, 2015 have little changes to the previous edition. The few changes that have come out, such as moving box 19 of the 1094-C from Part II to Part I of the form, and removing the shaded grey from box 23 of Part III, have been mostly cosmetic. Arguably the most significant change is adding the additional Plan Start Month field to the 1095-C, but this will remain an optional field for 2015 reporting.

Changes aside, in this blog I intend to focus on the particulars of how to complete the 1094-C.

Part I: Applicable Large Employer Member (ALE Member)

For Part I of the 1094-C, filling out the basic demographic information for boxes 1-8 is fairly intuitive. The first snag people often encounter is box 9—“Name of Designated Government Entity (only if applicable)”. The best advice we have received from both HR and legal professionals is “if you don’t know if you are a government entity and required to fill out boxes 9-16…then you aren’t.” Those organizations to whom boxes 9-16 applies are well aware of who they are (to learn more see IRS FAQs 1094-C).

Box 17: Consider it a freebie.

Box 18: The employer is going to attach copies of each 1095-C return to the 1094-C transmittal. All this box is asking is how many 1095-C forms are attached.

Box 19: (New to Part I on the most recent draft) The vast majority of you will be checking this box as the authoritative form. For those who are subsidiaries in a controlled-group, they will each complete and file a non-authoritative 1094-C. If this is not an authoritative transmittal, leave lines 20-22 and Parts III and IV blank.

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Part II ALE Member Information

Boxes 20-22 are for authoritative transmittals only!

Box 20: This number includes the total number of 1095-C forms attached to the transmittal (Line 18) and the total number of 1095-C forms submitted in non-authoritative transmittals by subsidiaries in a controlled-group.

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For example, if an employer is submitting an authoritative 1094-C, and has subsidiaries, then the number in box 20 will be the aggregate number of 1095-C forms in all of those subsidiaries. Now, those 1095-C forms will not be physically attached to the authoritative transmittal (given that a subsidiary will have filed their 1095-C returns on a non-authoritative transmittal), but the physical number of forms attached to the 1094-C does not dictate the number recorded in box 20.

Box 21: Check this box if this is the authoritative transmittal for an employer reporting on his or her aggregated group. If you do not check this box, you do not have to fill in any portion of Part IV of the 1094-C, or anything in Part III column d of the 1095-C.

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Box 22: For simplicities sake, I will not be focusing on when to check boxes A, B, or D. My reason for this is that the qualifiers for these transition relief options are so stringent, that it will be rare if an employer qualifies for these options (see IRS FAQs for more information).

That being said, everyone and their mother should be checking box C! For ALEs with less than 100 employees, this box is your request to be excused from the Pay or Play penalties for the 2015 reporting year. For employers over 100, this is your request to have your total FTE count reduced by 80 and for substantially all of your full time population to be set at 70% of your employees, vice 95%.

Checking box C triggers one of two codes needing to be entered in Part III column e. For all months that apply, if you are an ALE below 100 FTEs that has checked box C, you will write in “code A”. If you are and ALE over 100 FTEs that has checked box C, you will write in “code B” for all months that apply.

Point being—check box C!

Part III ALE Member Information—Monthly

In Part III, employers report on the fluctuations in their FTE population, their total employee count, and some additional information for aggregate groups and transition relief codes (already discussed above).

Column A: On a monthly basis, the employer will check “yes” or “no” as to whether or not they have offered 95% of their full-time population qualifying healthcare benefits. If they have done so for all 12 months, they only need complete line 23. If not, they will need to complete lines 24-35.

Column B: The employer records their full-time employee count for each month, AKA those FTEs that are in their stability period for that month. If an employee is designated as a FTE for any day of the month, they should be included in the total count. Of note, employers will not include those employees who are still in a non-assessment period in this count.

Column C: This is your total employee count, to include FTEs, those in a non-assessment period, and part-time employees. Given that numbers can fluctuate throughout the month, employers can choose one of four options for tallying FTEs.

1)      The First day of each month

2)      The last day of each month

3)      The first day of the first payroll period each month

4)      The last day of the last payroll period each month

Employers need to pick one option and stick with it for the year.

Column D: Simple. If you are part of an aggregate group in any month, click the boxes that apply.

Column E: See note above for Part II box 22.

Part IV Other ALE Members of Aggregated ALE Group

This section, again, is only for those employers who identified themselves as part of an Aggregated ALE Group in box 21. Listing from largest employee count to smallest, employers will list the name and EIN of the first 30 members of their ALE controlled-group. This only has to be completed for an authoritative transmittal (if you checked “yes” in box 21).

For more information on IRS Affordable Care Act Forms and Reporting, please download our ACA reporting white paper.