The reporting requirements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are quickly approaching. Employers subject to the Employer Mandate should prepare to submit Forms 1094-C/1095-C to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) by April 1, 2024. Employers not subject to the Employer Mandate but who offer a self-funded plan, including level funded plans and Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangements (ICHRAs) should be prepared to submit Forms 1094-B/1095-B to the IRS by this same date.

For all practical purposes, employers generally need to have the reporting close to its completion stage by the end of February 2024. The reason being that a copy of Form 1095-C must be provided to employees by March 1, 2024. A copy of Form 1095-B now only needs to be provided upon request, and employers have up to 30 days to provide a copy of Form 1095-B when a request is made.

The biggest change for the upcoming reporting year is that almost all employers will now need to file these forms electronically. In previous filing years, employers who were submitting fewer than 250 forms could submit the reporting by paper or electronically. For the upcoming reporting year and all future reporting years, only employers filing fewer than 10 forms will have the option to submit the forms by paper.

Employers who face an undue hardship from this change can submit Form 8508 to request an exception to file by paper. An undue hardship generally means that the cost of filing electronically exceeds the cost of filing by paper. There are instructions on Form 8508 which indicate when and where to file it.

Most employers who are subject to the reporting will need to find a vendor to assist with the electronic filing. While it is permissible for an employer to file electronically directly with the IRS, the system used requires a special coding format for transmission, and it’s not something an employer would typically have in place.