This guide details ACA year-end processes, including annual maintenance, data review, and 1095-C form creation and finalization. It covers assigning benefit and ACA profiles, handling COBRA, reviewing 1094-C forms, printing, and filing deadlines. Compliance alerts, best practices, and IRS resources are provided to ensure accurate ACA reporting and filing.
Contents
Creating & Populating Your 1095-C Forms
Editing and finalizing 1095-C Forms
Reviewing/Editing 1094-C Forms
ACA Form Download and Printing
ACA Year–End General Timeline
Annual Maintenance
Throughout the year, you will be responsible for ensuring best practices (as described below) are monitored and maintained for a successful year-end production. This includes keeping up with applying Employee Benefit Profiles, Benefit plans, and ACA profiles; assigning benefits plans to your employees along with dependent data, as applicable; providing your Inova ACA representative with updated benefits plan configuration and rate information as you encounter changes to your plans and or rates throughout the year and monitoring the average hours worked for your part-time/variable-hour employee population (if required) to ensure they are being properly categorized for ACA reporting needs (e.g., full-time vs part-time in the Employee Type field). (Specific Best Practice examples will follow at the end of this user guide.)
Year-End Activities
- For those on Self-funded or Partially Self-funded Plans.
- Make sure your plans are checkmarked as “Plan is Self-Insured”. This can be found in the left ribbon menu within each plan.
- You must have the covered spouses and dependents in the system with their Social Security # and Date of Birth. The Date of Birth can be used by itself, only if the Social Security Number was unable to be obtained with what the IRS defines as a “legitimate effort”.
- These dependents and spouses must also be attached/enrolled to the medical plans under which they are covered.
- You must also report employees enrolled in coverage who are not Full-time employees, including their dependent & spouse information if covered. This may include retired employees, depending on your company’s policies.
- You must also report those on COBRA, including dependent & spouse information if covered. This may include those who did not work in the reporting tax year.
- Ensure all medical plan assignments have been made. This is the actual benefit plan enrollment, not just payroll deductions.
- Make sure Everyone active in medical plans for the reporting tax year has the appropriate Coverage Effective From and Coverage Effective To dates, especially those who have terminated.
- Complete the ACA Data Review Checklist, which you can find later in this document. The checklist will review things like:
- Your ACA Company Settings, the Contact Name, and Contact Phone, are current for the 1094-C and 1095-C forms.
- You have created the ACA Tax Year for the reporting year if it has not already been created.
- Everyone has an ACA Profile assigned. This includes your terminated employees from the reporting tax year.
- Everyone who was offered benefits at any time during the reporting tax year has an Active Benefit Profile. This includes terminated Employees and employees who were offered but waived coverage.
- Make sure that all terminated employees have the proper Coverage Effective To date.
- Re-calculate your ACA data for the reporting tax year.
- Review, correct, and/or acknowledge the Compliance Alerts for all months of the reporting tax year.
- Once the above has been completed, you will be ready to create, populate, review, and finalize your 1095-C forms. Forms should not be created earlier than January 1st; this ensures all terminations and end-of-year employee maintenance are taken into account when forms are created and populated.
- Once all 1095-C forms have been reviewed and finalized, they can be printed. Forms must be delivered or postmarked by March 2nd, extended to Monday if March 2nd falls on a Saturday or Sunday.
- The 1094-C will be created, edited, and finalized shortly after printing. This is the final step before filing your forms with the IRS.
Data Review Guide and Checklist
ACA Data Review Guide
Self-Funded Plans
For only those with self-funded/self-insured plans:
- Make sure your plans are checked as “Plan is Self-Insured”. This can be done within the individual benefit plans and will trigger the spouses' and dependents' information to be included on the 1095-C forms. If you need help checking to make sure your plans are properly marked Self-funded, you can reach out to your account manager.
- You must have the covered dependents in the system with their Social Security # and Date of Birth. Date of Birth can only be used by itself if the Social Security number cannot be obtained with "a reasonable effort".
- These dependents and spouses must also be attached to the medical plans that they are covered under.
- You must also report employees enrolled in coverage who are not Full-time employees,
including their dependent & spouse information if covered. - You must also report those on COBRA, including dependent & spouse information if covered.
ACA Contact Information
Complete your ACA Form Contact Information:
Settings > Global Setup > Company Setup > ACA Tab
If the ACA tab is not visible, please contact your Account Manager for assistance.
1. ACA Setup Review
My Info > My Reports > My Saved Reports > ACA Setup Review
**To see this report, check the box Others’ Settings and search for the report by choosing the filter ‘like’ and typing “ACA” in the Saved as Name.
Use the checklist below to guide you through a review of Benefit Profiles and ACA Profiles
for Active and Terminated Employees during the calendar year.
- Full-Time Hourly or Salaried Employees - They MUST have BOTH a Benefit Profile and ACA Profile. Even if they have waived coverage.
- Part-Time Employees - Must have an ACA Profile. If you offer Benefits to Part-Time Employees, they should also have a Benefit Profile.
- Non-Employees/1099/International/System Admins/Test/Not in Payroll – Must have an ACA Profile marking them as Non-Employees. This will prevent them from being counted as employees on the 1094-C form during filing.
If employees are missing these profiles, you will need to make the appropriate modifications.
If an Employee does not have an ACA profile, the system will not be able to create 1095-C data or a 1095-C form.
2. Check that the terminated employee’s benefit coverage has been end-dated.
Team > Benefits > Benefit Plans
You can click on the Add/Remove Columns and bring in any additional columns that may be beneficial to you.
Bring in these columns:
- Employee Date: Terminated
- Coverage Effective From
- Coverage Effective To
- Benefit Type
Filter the EMPLOYEE STATUS field to “= terminated” and the Date Terminated to “>= 01/01/YYYY”, replace YYYY with the tax year.
When doing this, you only need to look at your medical plans.Filter the benefit Type Feild to say = "Medical"
Look over the terminations making certain that the Coverage Effective Date is accurate based on the terms of your plan (i.e. Coverage was end-dated at the end of the month or day of termination). Look especially for plans with the Coverage Effective to Date of 12/31/9999. Make all necessary adjustments to the employee.
3. ACA Recalculation and Data Summary check for compliance alerts
This should be performed after completion of the checklist and the previous 2 steps.
It is best at this time to recalculate your ACA Data. This can take a while to complete and you should plan to run it when you will not need your computer. This will recalculate and apply all changes that you have made up to this point.
Team > HR> ACA > ACA Employee Actions
If you have a large number you may want to run this in two passes.
1.) with your active employees
2.) with the year's terminations. This will avoid calculating terminated employees who did not work for you during this reporting year.
Select All and then click Recalculate. A message will pop up where you will click on the Recalculate button leaving the year to the default.
Once the recalculation has completed, you will want to check for Compliance Alerts by using the ACA Data Summary report.
Team> HR> ACA > ACA Data Summary
This report shows you if you have Compliance Alerts.
This will bring up all the Employees with Compliance Alerts. Click the pencil icon.
This will bring up the 1095-C. Click the Info link under the month with the caution sign.
Scroll and look for Compliance Alert. This will tell you why this employee has a
compliance alert. The alert should be investigated and corrected if possible.
If corrections are made the Employee can be recalculated and the alert may be removed, as long as the compliance alert is not a true alert. A Compliance Alert does not mean that you will receive a
penalty, it means that the system sees something that needs your attention, and the potential for a penalty may exist.
To Recalculate:
Team > My Team > Employee Information > Choose your Employee > ACA Tab > ACA Timeline Overview >Manage Employee’s ACA Timeline. Click on Recalculate in the Upper right of the screen
Common Reasons for Compliance Alerts:
- The employee is Full-time but does not have a benefits plan assigned to them or a waived plan.
- The employee is Full-time but does not have a Benefit Profile assigned to them.
- The employee’s Benefit Profile is not properly dated (The date when coverage becomes active, not the date offered)
- The Employee is considered full-time for the current stability period, but benefits were
removed. - The plan is considered not affordable by the ACA guidelines
- The employee was not offered benefits and is considered Full-time by ACA guidelines (Average 130hrs per month)
ACA Data Review Checklist (PDF at bottom of article)
| □ | Terminated - ACA profiles assigned to everyone | |
| Filter | Employee Status: = Terminated | |
| Filter | Date Terminated: >= 01/01/YYYY (Replace YYYY with reporting year) | |
| Filter | Current ACA Profile (Effective): Is Null | |
| Action | Assign the appropriate ACA Profile to those who are Null | |
| □ |
Terminated - Those with a Full-time or Non-Variable ACA profile have a Benefit Profile |
|
| Filter | Employee Status: = Terminated | |
| Filter | Date Terminated: >= 01/01/YYYY (Replace YYYY with reporting year) | |
| Filter | Current ACA Profile (Effective): = Full-time (substitute your ACA profile name) | |
| Filter | Current Benefit Profile (Effective): Is Null | |
| Action | Assign the Benefit profile to those that were offered Health Insurance | |
| Employee Benefit Plan Coverage End Date | ||
|
Team > Benefits > Benefits Plan |
||
| □ | Terminated - Make sure the Coverage Effective To has been properly end dated (extremely important if self-funded) | |
| This is important in the reporting of the ACA to let the system know when the Coverage ended after termination. Typically, the coverage will end at the end of the termination month or the day of termination. An improper date could lead to not reporting a month that you provided coverage or reporting that you provided coverage for months that you did not. | ||
| Select Columns | Coverage Effective To | |
| Filter | Employee Status: = Terminated | |
| Filter | Date Terminated: >= 01/01/YYYY (Replace YYYY with reporting year) | |
| Filter | Benefit Type: = medical | |
|
Action |
Look at the Coverage effective dates and make sure the coverage has been properly end-dated with your plan's policy. Especially look for those with a date of 12/31/9999. | |
|
Recalculate | ||
| □ | Team > HR > ACA > Employee ACA Actions |
|
| Filter | Current ACA Profile (Effective): Is Not Null | |
| Action | Select All Employees | |
| Action | Click Recalculate in the upper right corner of the screen | |
| Alerts | ||
| □ | Team > HR > ACA > ACA Data Summary |
|
| Filter | Date Range set to “This year” or “Last Year” typically | |
| Action | Review the compliance alerts and make the appropriate adjustments | |
|
COBRA |
||
| □ | Active Employees | Begin a list of all Employees who were offered COBRA coverage while still an active employee. An Example of this would be somebody who went from Full-time to Part-time and lost medical coverage as a result. |
|
Self-Insured Additional Steps | ||
| □ | Benefit Plans | Double-check and make sure that all Self-Insured medical plans are check marked to be identified as self-insured. This will be on the left- hand side of the benefit plan details. |
| □ | Benefit Plans | Double-check to make sure that the dependents are attached to the medical plans. You can do this by going to: My Employees > Employee HR Maintenance > Benefits > Dependents. Filter for benefit type = Medical. |
| □ | COBRA Terminated Employees |
Begin a list of Employees that terminated with the employee or their dependents enrolled in COBRA coverage. This must be reported on the 1095-C and will require a manual review. We will need the specifics for each person enrolled (start dates and end dates of COBRA coverage) |
| □ | COBRA Not Employed in Tax Year | Begin a list of former employees who did not work 1 day for you in the tax year, but either they or their dependent(s) were on COBRA. We will manually add their 1095-C form and code these individuals. This information must be reported by you on the 1095-C. |
Creating & Populating Your 1095-C Forms
- Navigate HR > ACA > ACA Year-End Processing
- Click on “Add Tax Year” in the upper right of the screen. Select the year 2024. Do this for each EIN if more than one.
- Navigate to Team > HR > ACA > Forms > Employee Forms 1095-C
- Change the selected year to the reporting tax year in the upper right portion of the screen if not already displayed.
- Then select “MASS ADD NEW” in the upper right portion of the page.
- Leave the setting as “Mass Add for Selected Year” and click "OK".
- The system will now scan your ACA Data and create a “blank form” for everyone it has detected should receive a 1095-C form. A form is created for any employee with at least one month of ACA status as "FT". Also, if you are self-funded, a form will be created for anyone enrolled in a self-funded health plan.
- Now populate the forms by selecting All and selecting “All on Report” & clicking on “Populate” in the upper right portion of the screen. You may need to click the … to reveal the “Populate” option.
- Your forms have now been created and populated with the information from the Employees' ACA Timelines.
- To view a specific employee’s 1095-C form, click on the View Form 1095-C pencil button to the left of the employee’s name.
- To perform a mass view of all forms created, click on the “Select All” check box in the upper left corner of your screen view and select “All On Report”. Click on the “View Selected” button in the upper right corner of your screen view. This will open all your forms in a PDF-like format, and you can use the “Page Forward” button to quickly flip through each form when reviewing, editing, and finalizing.
Adding/Deleting 1095-C Forms
- If you find a form for an employee who should not have received one, you can delete it by clicking the
button next to the employee’s name. An example of this would be an employee who never made it out of their waiting period prior to terminating or prior to the year ending. Likewise, if you find that there is not a form in the list for an employee who should have one, you can add a form for that employee by clicking on the “Add New” button in the upper right corner of your screen. Once the form is added, click on “Populate Form” in the upper right corner of the screen (once you open the form) to pull the information for that employee onto the form and save. (If the applicable codes are not populating, you may need to perform a recalculation from the employee’s ACA Timeline view on the employee’s ACA tab or edit the fields directly)
NOTE: For multi-EIN clients, there may be situations where more than one form is created for an employee. If this occurs, please check to make sure the coding is correct for each specific EIN and determine if multiple forms are needed for that employee. Typically, an employee will not be a full-time employee at both EINs during the same month.
Editing and finalizing 1095-C Forms
The 1095-C forms consist of three sections:
- Part I – Employee/Employer personal information
- Check Box 10 Contact Telephone Number to make sure it is populated. This can be mass-edited to all forms if missing or incorrect.
- Part II – Offer of Medical coverage information about the employee (Lines 14, 15, and 16 as applicable)
- Check the Plan Year Start Month to make sure the proper 2-digit code is listed. This can be mass edited to all forms if incorrect.
- Part III – Employee/Dependent information to include effective months of coverage. (NOTE: Part III only applies to employers that are offering self-funded (self-insured) insurance plans.
REVIEWING PART I
- Ensure the employee and employer information is correct. If you need to make changes, simply type in the corrected information and click “Save” in the upper-right corner.
- Conversely, you may also adjust the employee’s data in the Employee Information area and then re-populate the form after you save your changes. If there is an error in the company information section, please notify your Inova ACA representative at mysupport@inovapayroll.com for assistance.
REVIEWING PART II
- Part II* is the section of the 1095-C form that identifies when the employee's offer of qualified medical coverage was made for the current reporting year. It is broken down into 3 separate line items:
- Line 14 – indicates whether an offer of coverage was made or not, and if offered, whether the Minimum Essential Coverage and Minimum Value Plan were met or not.
- Line 15 – indicates the lowest cost for the employee's portion of a qualified medical plan offered, regardless of whether the employee enrolled in the plan or not. (NOTE: If you are using the 1A code on Line 14 to describe your coverage offer, you are not required to populate Line 15.)
- Line 16 – indicates the outcome of the offer. Were they enrolled, or if waived, did it meet an affordability Safe Harbor? If they were not offered, what is the reasoning why? Were they not employed that month, or were they in a waiting period?
*It is important to note that this legislation is very complex, and the rules relating to the population of this section of the form can vary by employer (based on the type of plans offered, etc.). Therefore, we strongly encourage you to review the results of your coding with your legal counsel or tax advisor if you are unsure about which codes specifically apply to your unique situation. You should also review the IRS INSTRUCTIONS FOR 1094/1095-C to ensure you are getting the most up-to-date information on this legislation and how to complete these forms. Your Inova ACA team can help facilitate form preparation. Still, we are limited to only providing technical assistance, and therefore, we cannot provide legal advice on how to apply the regulations to your organization’s circumstances.
HELPFUL HINTS FOR PART II (NOT INTENDED AS LEGAL ADVICE)
-
Line 14:
- Code 1A indicates the employee was offered a plan that met the Federal Poverty Level Affordability Safe Harbor. This, in a way, means that your plan would be affordable to whoever you offer it to.
- Code 1E indicates the employee was offered an ACA-qualified plan but did not meet the Federal Poverty Level Affordability Safe Harbor. It will need to qualify by using the Rate of Pay or W-2 Affordability Safe Harbor.
- Code 1H indicates no offer of coverage was made (e.g., Months before hire, post-termination, an employee in a waiting period, or in an initial measurement period)
- Code 1K means that a spouse was offered conditionally. A conditional offer means that the Spouse is only eligible for medical if she is not eligible for medical benefits via the spouse's employer.
- Please refer to the IRS INSTRUCTIONS ON 1094/1095-C for a full description of all 1-series codes.
-
Line 15:
- If required to populate (per IRS guidelines), it displays the total monthly employee contribution for the lowest-cost medical plan offered to the employee. Only needs to be populated if Line 14 has Codes 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1J, 1K, 1L, 1M, 1N, 1O, 1P, 1Q, 1T, or 1U is entered on line 14, either in the “All 12 Months” box or in any of the monthly boxes. It can be left blank if Line 14 contains codes 1A or 1H. Please refer to the IRS INSTRUCTIONS ON 1094/1095-C for a full description of codes that require Line 15 to be populated.
-
Line 16:
- Code 2A – Employee was not employed a single day during the month.
- Code 2B – Employee was outside of their Initial Measurement period and not full-time during this month, and did not enroll in medical if offered; or the enrollment or offer ended before the end of the month due to termination.
- Code 2C – Employee was enrolled in the coverage offered every day of the month.
- Code 2G – Used with 1A and indicates the offer was affordable at the federal poverty level, and the employee did not enroll in coverage.
- Code 2H – Used to indicate the offer was affordable per the rate of pay guidelines, and the employee did not enroll in coverage.
- Code 2F – Used to indicate that the offer was affordable at the W-2 level, and the employee did not enroll in coverage.
- Please refer to the IRS INSTRUCTIONS ON 1094/1095-C for a full description of all 2-series codes.
REVIEWING PART III
- Part III will only need to be completed if your company is offering a self-insured (self-funded) medical plan (or partially self-insured plan).
- Ensure that all dependents for an employee are entered with accurate SSNs and Date of Births (DOBs). The IRS lists the preference as the SSN, but DOB can be used in an emergency. Only 1 should be listed on the form.
- Double-check that each dependent is correctly marked for the months of coverage under the employee’s plan. If they were covered for the entire year, the “All 12 months” box should be marked.
HELPFUL HINTS FOR PART III
- If you are unable to resolve why a code is not correct on a dependent’s data line (e.g., adjusting the benefits plan area and eligibility dates), you can simply type over the affected information directly in the form and click “Save” in the upper right corner of the screen.
- If you need any assistance modifying the benefits plans themselves to facilitate correcting the form, please contact your Inova ACA representative at mysupport@inovapayroll.com.
Finalizing Forms:
- You can finalize as you review each form individually by finalizing in the upper right while viewing the form, or you can mass finalize by selecting all or multiple forms and clicking Finalize in the upper right of the screen. You may need to click the … for the Finalize option while doing either method.
Adding COBRA to 1095-C forms
How to code COBRA medical enrollment for self-funded plans for non-active employees.
Part I – No edits should be made.
Part II – No edits should be made. Once an employee is terminated, there is zero responsibility for the employer to offer an affordable medical plan. This is why we want to keep the terminated months as 1H/2A to let the IRS know this employee was terminated during those months.
Part III – Will display with the enrollment into the company-subsidized plan already selected
Part III – Make the COBRA edits for the covered individuals. Check off the appropriate months the employee, spouse, and/or dependents were enrolled in COBRA.
*Note that if the COBRA enrollment has the individual enrolled for all 12 months, you uncheck the individual months and check off the All 12 Months box.
How to code COBRA medical enrollment for self-funded plans for an employee who did not work a single day during the tax year.
For an employee who did not work a day during the tax year, to receive a form, you will most likely need to manually add the form and populate it. Since he did not work a day, the system most likely will not automatically identify this person as someone who needs a form. This can vary depending on how you are tracking your COBRA enrollment.
Part I – No edits or Changes
Part II – Line 14 should have 1G in the All 12 Months Column; everything else in Part II should be blank. The Code 1G tells the IRS that the individual was not considered an employee for any month of the year.
Part III - Make the COBRA edits for the covered individuals. You will need to add the Individuals covered for COBRA, making sure the Individual listed in Part I is listed first on line 18.
*Note that if the COBRA enrollment has the individual enrolled for all 12 months, you can just check the all 12 months Box for that individual.
Reviewing/Editing 1094-C Forms
The 1094-C consists of 4 parts:
- Part I – Applicable Large Employer Member (ALE Member) information – review all data to confirm that the correct legal information for the primary member of the ALE group is displayed.
- Part II – ALE Member Information – these values should all be pre-populated for you based on the number of 1095-C forms generated for your entities; however, you should double-check to ensure the numbers match your expectations. Additionally, if not already noted, please ensure that Line 22 is populated accordingly (if any of the available options apply to your group – they may not be for some employer groups).
- Part III – ALE Member Information – Monthly – this area defines whether you offered Minimum Essential Coverage (per ACA guidelines), your full-time vs total employee headcounts, and whether you are part of an aggregated group for reporting purposes. Again, these should all be pre-populated for you based on the programming applied to your ACA Module configuration; however, it is important to double-check that everything is marked appropriately for your organization’s specific requirements.
- Part IV – Listing of Other ALE Members of Aggregated ALE Group – per IRS guidelines, all members of an aggregated group (applies to most multi-EIN clients) must be listed on this form (even if the 1095-Cs are not being prepared by Inova). The aggregated group classification is largely dependent upon common ownership status – therefore, if you are in doubt as to which of your entities should be noted here, please consult with your legal counsel or tax advisor to make this determination.
ACA Form Download and Printing
-
Download or print a single 1095-C form that an employee requested.
- You can only print a finalized 1095-C form.
- You have 30 days to complete the request.
- This can be printed by going to one of two locations
- Team > HR > ACA > Forms > Employee Forms 1095-C, make certain the proper tax year is selected in the upper right of the screen. Once there, open the finalized form to edit and select Download PDF from the options in the upper right. This will be a 4-page print Job formatted for 8.5” x 11” paper, that prints best double-sided. There will be 2 pages of forms and 2 pages of instructions. The instructions are required to be provided. This method only allows you to download and print a single form at a time. There is also no option to mask the employees' SSN for security purposes.
- Team > HR > ACA > ACA Year End Processing, once there click the pencil to view the ACA Plan Year and then click on The option in the upper right “Start new filing”, You will go to the Download 1095-C forms Section and click on the link “Download forms”, from here you can select all of the individual forms you want to print.
- Print settings will allow you to select if you want to print using letter or pressure seal.
- Letter – This will be a 4-page print Job formatted for 8.5” x 11” paper, that prints best double-sided. There will be 2 pages of forms and 2 pages of instructions.
- There will be options to Mask the SSNs and Print Instructions, which should be selected.
- Pressure seal - This will be a 1-page print Job formatted for 8.5” x 14” legal-size paper with the form and instructions.
- There will be an option to mask the SSNs
- This download, even though formatted for legal-sized paper, can be printed on a letter-size sheet of paper, but it is recommended that you test one form to make sure that the appearance is acceptable.
- Click Download PDF, once downloaded, print from this PDF.
- Letter – This will be a 4-page print Job formatted for 8.5” x 11” paper, that prints best double-sided. There will be 2 pages of forms and 2 pages of instructions.
- Print settings will allow you to select if you want to print using letter or pressure seal.
-
Download or print all of your forms for delivery to your employees.
- You can only print a finalized 1095-C form.
- It is always best to print 1 form before printing the entire list to make sure the forms print in an acceptable format.
- To Download and Print
- Team > HR > ACA > ACA Year End Processing, once there click the pencil to view the ACA Plan Year and then click on the option in the upper right “Start new filing”, You will go to the Download 1095-C forms Section and click on the link in the checklist for “Download forms”, from here you will select the option to select all on report.
- Print settings will allow you to select if you want to print using letter or pressure seal.
- Letter – This will be a 4-page print Job formatted for 8.5” x 11” paper, that prints best double-sided. There will be 2 pages of forms and 2 pages of instructions.
- There will be options to Mask the SSNs and for Printing Instructions, which should be selected.
- Click Download PDF, once downloaded, print from this PDF.
- Letter – This will be a 4-page print Job formatted for 8.5” x 11” paper, that prints best double-sided. There will be 2 pages of forms and 2 pages of instructions.
- Pressure seal - This will be a 1-page print Job formatted for 8.5” x 14” legal-size paper with the form and instructions.
- There will be an option to mask the SSNs
- This download, even though formatted for legal-sized paper, can be printed on a letter-size sheet of paper, but it is recommended that you test one form to make sure that the appearance is acceptable.
- Click Download PDF, once downloaded, print from this PDF.
- Print settings will allow you to select if you want to print using letter or pressure seal.
- Team > HR > ACA > ACA Year End Processing, once there click the pencil to view the ACA Plan Year and then click on the option in the upper right “Start new filing”, You will go to the Download 1095-C forms Section and click on the link in the checklist for “Download forms”, from here you will select the option to select all on report.
-
Download all 1095-C forms for your records
- You can only download/print a finalized 1095-C form.
- To download the 1095-C form
- Team > HR > ACA > ACA Year End Processing, once there click the pencil to view the ACA Plan Year and then click on the option in the upper right “Start new filing”, You will go to the Download 1095-C forms Section and click on the link in the checklist for “View employer forms 1094-C”, from here you will select the option to select all on report.
- Print settings will allow you to select if you want to print using letter or pressure seal.
- Pressure seal - This will be a 1-page print Job formatted for 8.5” x 14” legal-size paper with the form and instructions. Selecting the pressure seal will make each employee 1 page in the PDF.
- There will be an option to mask the SSNs
- Click Download PDF
- Pressure seal - This will be a 1-page print Job formatted for 8.5” x 14” legal-size paper with the form and instructions. Selecting the pressure seal will make each employee 1 page in the PDF.
- Print settings will allow you to select if you want to print using letter or pressure seal.
- Team > HR > ACA > ACA Year End Processing, once there click the pencil to view the ACA Plan Year and then click on the option in the upper right “Start new filing”, You will go to the Download 1095-C forms Section and click on the link in the checklist for “View employer forms 1094-C”, from here you will select the option to select all on report.
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Download and/or print your 1094-C form
- The 1094-C form is the “Cover Sheet” for when your 1095-C forms are filed with the IRS.
- You can only download/print a finalized 1094-C form
- There are two ways to download the 1094-C form
- Team > HR > ACA > Forms > Employee Forms 1094-C, select the proper tax year in the upper right of the screen. Once there, open the finalized form to edit and click Download PDF. There are no print settings for the 1094-C form.
- Team > HR > ACA > ACA Year End Processing, once there click the pencil to view the ACA Plan Year and then click on the option in the upper right “Start new filing”, You will go to the “1094-C, create, populate, and finalize” section and click on the link in the checklist for “View employer forms 1094-C”, from here you will click the pencil to open the 1094-C form, and then click on the Download PDF button. There are no print settings for the 1094-C form.
ACA-Related Reporting
The following standard reports are available to assist you through all of your ACA compliance processes – including assessing average hours worked for your part-time/variable-hour employees. Below is a brief overview of the available reports; however, not all may apply to your particular situation, and/or additional custom reports may have to be built for your organization.
The following standard reports are located under Team>HR>ACA:
- Employee ACA Actions – this report summarizes average hours worked for all employees in the current Measurement Period cycle, and it is intended to be utilized for those employees who are considered “ongoing” employees for purposes of this analysis. Ideally, this report would be run in the last month of your measurement period cycle in order to determine whether any part-time/variable-hour employees need to be reclassified as full-time employees in time for the next Stability Cycle (benefit plan year start date) and be offered medical benefits.
- ACA Data Detailed – this report collectively shows all ACA details for all employees (depending upon how you filter the report and set the desired date range). Many clients utilize this report to help spot-check average hours worked for new hires in their initial ACA Measurement period within the first year of employment. This report is extremely helpful when filtered to look for specific scenarios.
- ACA Data Summary – the ACA Data Summary report provides a high-level overview of all hours worked in the selected date range and helps you identify employees that may be approaching full-time status, possible downgrades, etc. This report is also good at pointing out potential compliance alerts.
The following standard reports are located under Team>HR>ACA>Forms:
- Employee Forms 1095-C & Employer Forms 1094-C – the main viewing area of the populated 1095-C & 1094-C forms.
- Form 1094-C Employee Count – this report provides a synopsis of total headcount vs full-time employee headcounts as required on the 1094-C form (columns B & C).
ACA-Related Best Practices
- Assigning an Employee Benefit Profile – the employee Benefit profile contains the benefit plans and rates offered to that employee. This facilitates the proper coding of your employee’s 1095-C forms. Therefore, it is important to remember to assign this to all eligible employees accordingly.
- Handling Employment Classification Changes - If an employee changes to a non-benefit eligible status during the year (e.g., goes back to part-time status at the end of the stability period), you will add a new line item and remove the benefits profile effective when the employee is no longer eligible for benefits. The Employee Benefits Profile, in essence, is an on/off switch identifying when the employee is in an eligibility period for benefits. You can use a Blank profile, or you may have a “Not eligible” profile you can assign.
- Setting the ACA Profile – under the employee’s ACA tab, insert the applicable ACA profile for your employee. You do not need to adjust any dates here – just add which profile is best suited for the employee. There are generally three types of profiles: 1.) Full-Time employees (immediately go into a waiting period for benefits), 2.) Variable Employees who do not go into the company waiting period for benefits, e.g., part-time, variable hour, Intern, etc., and 3.) Non-Employees (temps from an agency, 1099, Draw, Test accounts, user-only accounts, etc.)
- Assigning Benefits Plans – For those clients who are already utilizing the Benefits Module, please follow the normal instructions for assigning any medical benefits plans your employees are enrolled in (either manually or via your employees enrolling through the online enrollment portal). For clients that are not utilizing the Benefits Module, basic medical plan configurations have been built into your account sufficient to support your ACA Reporting requirements. To assign one of these plans, please follow the guidelines below. (The screen to add benefits will be available under the employee’s ACA tab.)
- From the Benefit Plans screen, click on “Add New” to assign a medical plan to the employee’s record.
- From the drop-down list that now appears, select the appropriate plan and coverage tier the employee is enrolled in by clicking on the Blue Flag to the left of the plan name. Click “Save” in the upper right corner when finished.
- From the Benefit Plans screen, click on “Add New” to assign a medical plan to the employee’s record.
NOTE: If you are offering a self-insured (self-funded) medical plan, be sure to assign any dependent information as applicable. To view dependent data, run the Dependents report under Benefits>Dependents. If you need to add/edit dependent data, go to the “Account Contacts” and click on “Add Contact” to add a new dependent or open an existing dependent to edit. Once finished, assign the dependent to the applicable benefit & click “Add Spouse” or “Add Child”.
IRS Website Links
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i109495c.pdf
https://www.irs.gov/affordable-care-act/employers
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1095c.pdf
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1094c.pdf
A Final Note
- Inova personnel are not permitted to provide legal advice regarding the Client’s overall ACA compliance strategy and/or organization-specific requirements.
- The client may need to consult with a benefits broker and/or legal counsel to assist with answering specific compliance strategy questions for your organization. Client is also encouraged to visit the IRS website for the latest legal requirements related to the Affordable Care Act: https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i109495c/ar01.html#d0e31
- Inova personnel will apply programming sufficient to implement the module and assign ACA/ Employee Benefits Profiles based on existing Employee Type assignments available at the time of implementation. Inova personnel will not assist Client with identifying whether existing employee types are correct as applied or make assumptions as to the validity of the data provided.
- It is the Client’s responsibility to ensure the ACA Manager Module’s ongoing administration and associated year-end processes are maintained as applicable. Likewise, it is the Client’s sole responsibility, as the legal Employer of Record, to validate all forms produced as part of the year-end processes prior to submission to the IRS. All Clients will be required to review, audit, and validate the 1095-C/1094-C forms before Inova proceeds with Filing. Inova will make no representations on the Client’s behalf as to the overall validity of data entered, other than to facilitate additional training on how to make modifications/adjustments as required in order to enable the client to submit valid data.
ACA Year–End General Timeline
- December – Review Employee and ACA Data and prepare your data before year-end.
- January – Create, Populate, Review, and Finalize your 1095-C forms.
- February – 1095-C forms are available upon the employee's request.
- March – Inova files your 1095-C forms with the IRS