Time’s almost up. Just a few weeks left before all ALE companies (any employer with an average of at least 50 full-time or full-time equivalent employees for the calendar year) must report health coverage on the new Form 1095-C by March 31st.
The Internal Revenue Service has instructions for the new return. And in them, the IRS estimates it will take companies an average of 12 minutes to complete each return. It’s important to note that a Form 1095-C should be filled out for each employee to indicate whether health insurance coverage was offered on a month-by-month basis. Your employees should receive their copy of the completed Form 1095-C from you by the March 31stdeadline. And if you are submitting paper copies of Form 1095-C to the IRS they will need to be mailed no later than May 31st. For organizations submitting electronically, you have until June 30th to have that process completed.
Two critical lines to watch
While everything’s new territory here, the instructions do call your attention to two specific lines:
Line 14: The instructions tell you what code to use if an employee is terminated and made an offer of COBRA continuation coverage. If the employee enrolls, use the appropriate indicator code. If not, you’ll use code 1H (no offer of coverage) for any month that the offer of COBRAcontinuation coverage applies.
Line 15: The instructions also give your company a quick way to calculate the lowest cost of the monthly premiums available for each employee. To determine that person’s monthly contribution, you’ll divide the total employee share of the premium for the plan year by the number of months in the plan year.
For more information, see the IRS questions and answers about Reporting of Offers of Health Insurance Coverage by Employers here. We recommend you consult your tax advisor for any additional guidance and support.
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