If you’re an applicable large
employer, you may be required to file a new tax form this year. Form 1095-C, Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and
Coverage, is required for each full-time employee. The form discloses
information on the group health insurance coverage you provide.
The filing requirement applies to
applicable large employers (ALEs). You’re an ALE if you have a combination of
50 or more full-time employees or full-time equivalent (FTE) employees in the
prior year. A full-time employee is anyone working on average 30 hours or more
per week, or 130 hours per month. You’ll also need to count “full-time
equivalent” employees. These are employees whose actual working hours are less
than 30 per week, but whose total combined hours meet the equivalent of
full-time.
Keep in mind that special situations
may be subject to other rules. For example, a group of companies under common
ownership may need to count employees for the entire group. New businesses and
those that hire seasonal employees also have different requirements. Finally,
remember that if your business offers a self-insurance program, you must file
either Form 1095-B or Form 1095-C dependent upon the number of full-time
equivalent workers you have.
The 2015 Forms 1095-B and 1095-C are
due to your employees by March 31, 2016, and to the IRS by May 31. The IRS
deadline is June 30 if you file electronically, which you must do when you
issue 250 or more forms. The penalty for not filing these forms if you’re
required to is $250 per form, up to $3 million per year.
You may also have another health
insurance payroll reporting requirement to remember. When you have 250 or more
employees, you need to report the value of health insurance coverage on Forms
W-2.
For more details, please call our
office.
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