As required under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Department of Treasury (Treasury) Aug. 28 released draft information reporting form instructions that employers will use to report on the health coverage they offer their employees. This impacts employers with 50 or more full-time employees and full-time-equivalent employees as well as employers that self-insure. Effective 2015, employers must collect the information required to be reported under ACA and, beginning in 2016, file the information reporting returns with the IRS. Learn more by reading the update from Littler Mendelson, ABC’s general counsel.

On March 10, Treasury and IRS issued final rules on information reporting under Internal Revenue Code sections 6055 and 6056. On July 24, the draft information reporting forms were issued. For more information, Littler also provided a detailed summary of the final rules.  

Under Section 6056, applicable large employers (with 50 or more full-time employees and full-time-equivalent employees) are required to report information about the health care coverage they have offered to full-time employees to the IRS. They are also required to provide related statements to each full-time employee. The IRS has provided an FAQ about Section 6056.

Under section 6055, health insurance issuers and self-insuring employers that provide minimum essential health coverage to individuals must report to the IRS information about the type and period of coverage and furnish related statements to covered individuals. According to the IRS, any employer that sponsors a self-insured health plan is required to report under Section 6055, even if the employer has fewer than 50 full-time employees. The IRS has provided an FAQ about Section 6055.

ABC National will continue to educate members about the complicated information reporting requirements. Members also are encouraged to consult counsel about complying with the employer mandate and information reporting requirements.

Additional information on the health care law may be found on ABC’s Employer Health Care Law Toolkit.