For the first time this tax-filing season, employers must report 2015 health care coverage information to their employees and the IRS under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The reporting requirement affects you if you’re an applicable large employer (ALE) with 50 or more full-time employees, a self-insured employer or a health insurance company.
Because you need to track and gather numerous pieces of information to complete the ACA 1095 forms, most employers are looking for additional support. TrackSmart can help you capture some of that data for more efficient tax filing, as well as to manage the process year-round.
TrackSmart now offers three “Health Plan Detail” fields under employee profiles:
- Health plan enrollment date – the date the employee enrolled in the company health plan
- Health plan employee cost – the employee share of the lowest-cost monthly premium
- Health plan dependents – the number of dependents under the employee’s coverage
To enable the new fields, just click on “Preferences” at the top right of the screen and select the “Recordkeeping Fields” section in the left column. From there, the new “Health Plan Detail” option will appear at the bottom of the list as an available recordkeeping field.
Next steps with ACA reporting
The biggest impact with the new ACA reporting requirements is with applicable large employers with 50 or more full-time or full-time equivalent (FTE) employees. How can you be certain you qualify?
Start by reviewing your workforce and their hours for the previous year. A full-time employee averages at least 30 hours of service per week (or 130 hours per month). A FTE, on the other hand, is a combination of part-time employees that counts as a full-time employee. To determine the number of FTE employees:
- Add up the part-time service hours in a month (up to 120 hours per employee)
- Divide the total by 120; if this results in a fraction, round down to the next whole number
For example:
Seven employees who work 20 hours/week would be four FTEs.
(7 X 20 hrs/week = 140; 140 X 4 wks/month = 560; 560 (divided by) 120 = 4.66, rounded down to 4)
If, based on this criteria, you’re an ALE, you’ll need to complete and file form 1095-C (and the 1094-C transmittal form) this tax season. Specifically, if you’re a fully insured employer, you’ll complete Parts I and II of the 1095-C, while those of you with self-insured plans will complete Parts I, II and III.
As you might imagine, information gathering is critically important to the ACA reporting process. Previously, you’d have to obtain data from a variety of departments or resources, including HR, payroll and benefits. TrackSmart streamlines this process with the Employee Profiler Report.
Whether for ACA reporting or other recordkeeping needs, the Employee Profiler Report allows you to organize and quickly access essential employee information. Rather than clicking through various sections of the profile, you can run a report that consolidates the ACA fields with other employee information, such as personal and contact details. You can do this for one employee or department at a time, or for the entire company all at once. Each employee profile appears on an individual page that can be exported to PDF or CSV format. You then have the option to save the reports to your computer or print hard copies.
Keep in mind, too, that all information remains completely confidential, because it can only be accessed with an Administrator’s log in. Further, TrackSmart uses the most advanced Internet security technology available today: Security Socket Layer (SSL). This ensures the safety of your employee data through server authentication and advanced data encryption.
Put TrackSmart to use for easier ACA reporting
With key health plan details at your fingertips, you can take a critical first step toward managing ACA reporting. For step-by-step details on how to capture this information through TrackSmart and the Employee Profiler Report, go to our Help Center article.
Also, check out the efficient, online filing service eFile4Biz.com to distribute forms to employees/recipients by the recently extended deadline of March 31, 2016 – and file electronically with the IRS by June 30.
