Affordable Care Act Update: Employer Shared Responsibility Reporting for Applicable Large Employers Contributing to Multiemployer Welfare Plans

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1 Affordable Care Act Update: Employer Shared Responsibility Reporting for Applicable Large Employers Contributing to Multiemployer Welfare Plans By: Mark Levengood, Esq. Elizabeth Schlax, Esq. Jennifer Abrams, Esq. 1

2 Overview Employers Required to Report Information Needed to Complete the Reporting Employees an Employer must Report Bargaining Unit Employees and Reporting Effective Dates for Reporting 2

3 Employers Required to Report Applicable Large Employers that are subject to the Employer Mandate Applicable Large Employers are employers with 50 or more full-time employees (including full-time equivalents) Full-time = average of 30 hours per week or more during a calendar month Full-time equivalent = aggregate of all hours worked by employees averaging less than 30 hours per week (up to a max of 120 per employee) divided by 120 ***Reporting required regardless of eligibility for transition relief 3

4 Required Reporting Information Return Form 1094-C the transmittal form Form 1095-C the return specific to each full-time employee Statement to each full-time employee Provide a copy of Form 1095-C to each full-time employee The back of the form provides an explanation of the content of the form to the recipient 4

5 Information Needed for Required Reporting Employer Name, Address, and EIN Employer contact person name and telephone number the calendar year for which the information is reported a certification as to whether the Employer offered health coverage to its full-time employees (and their dependents) by calendar month the months during the calendar year that coverage was available to the employer s fulltime employees (and their dependents) each full-time employee s share of the lowest cost monthly premium (self-only) for coverage providing minimum value offered to that full-time employee, by calendar month the number of full-time employees for each month during the calendar year the name, address, and taxpayer identification number of each full-time employee during the calendar year and the months, if any, during which the employee was covered under the employer-sponsored plan 5

6 Employees an Employer must Report Any employee who was a full-time employee in any month during the reporting year Employee = any individual who is an employee under the common law standard Common law standard is broad Includes staff and bargaining unit employees 6

7 Multiemployer Relief A multiemployer welfare plan receives contributions but does not have all information necessary to determine which employees are considered fulltime employees under the PPACA A multiemployer welfare plan administrator uses remittance reports submitted by a participating employer to determine the eligibility of each employee on whose behalf contributions were received but information regarding each employee s eligibility for coverage under the plan is not distributed to the employers by the plan administrator Department of Health and Human Services has advised that it may be a violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ( HIPAA ) for a multiemployer welfare plan to distribute individual coverage information to participating employers 7

8 Multiemployer Relief IRS created Multiemployer Safe Harbor A large employer is treated as having offered coverage to any employee covered by a collective bargaining agreement (or participation agreement) which requires contributions to a multiemployer plan so long as the plan offers affordable and minimum value coverage to all employees who satisfy the plan s eligibility conditions (and offers some form of coverage to the employee s dependents) 8

9 Examples Bargaining Unit Bob Sally Staffer 9

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15 For reporting offers of coverage for 2015, an employer relying on the multiemployer arrangement interim guidance should enter code 1H on line 14 for any month for which the employer enters code 2E on line 16 (indicating that the employer was required to contribute to a multiemployer plan on behalf of the employee for that month and therefore is eligible for multiemployer interim rule relief). 15

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26 Effective Dates for ACA Reporting The ACA s employer reporting requirement is effective for calendar years beginning January 1, 2015 The Information Return must be filed with IRS by February 29 th of year following the calendar year to which the return relates (March 31 st if filing electronically) For calendar year 2015 reporting: February 29, 2016 (March 31 st if filing electronically) Employees must be provided with copies of Form 1095-C by January 31 st of the year following the calendar year to which the return relates For calendar year 2015 reporting: January 31,

27 QUESTIONS? Susanin, Widman & Brennan, P.C. 656 East Swedesford Road, Suite 330 Wayne, PA (610) Mark E. Levengood: Jennifer S. Abrams: Elizabeth K. Schlax: 27