Last month, the IRS issued proposed changes to the ACA reporting and disclosure forms for 2016. As a reminder, Forms 1094-B and 1095-B are used by insurance providers to report on the number of individuals enrolled in health care coverage during a tax year, while Forms 1094-C and 1095-C are used by Applicable Large Employers (“ALEs”) to report on the health insurance coverage which they must offer to all their full-time employees during a tax year. We previously discussed the forms in depth here, here and here.
The drafts are subject to change, but we have provided some highlights of the proposed changes below.
Form 1094-C
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Line 22, Box B is now “Reserved.” The Qualifying Offer Method Transition Relief was only available for 2015 coverage and is not applicable for 2016.
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“Section 4980H” has been inserted before “Full-Time Employee Count for ALE Member” in Part III, column B in an apparent attempt to distinguish a “full-time employee” for ACA purposes from a “full-time employee” as defined in the plans and policies of an ALE.
Form 1095-B
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Line 9 is now “Reserved.” On the 2015 version of the form, this line was to report the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) Marketplace identifier, if applicable, but should have been left blank according to the 2015 instructions.
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The draft instructions provide that an individual who has received employer-sponsored coverage (i) may report such coverage on Form 1095-C (Part III) instead of Form 1095-B, (ii) does not have to fill in the information even if the individual had employer-sponsored health coverage during the year, and (iii) does not have to return the form to the employer or coverage provider.
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Form 1094-B remains unchanged for now.
Form 1095-C
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Two new codes, 1J and 1K, have been added to line 14 to report on conditional offers of coverage to an employee’s spouse.
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The language “Do not attach to your return. Keep for your records.” was inserted under the title of the form to alert individuals that they should not submit the forms to the IRS.
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