Don’t let the new tax plan fool you: ACA employer mandate remains intact

Despite some administration officials touting that the new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act “essentially” repeals the health law, this is not the case.

Here are the facts:

Employer mandate stands

• All U.S. employers with 50 or more full-time equivalent employees must continue to offer their full-time workers ACA-compliant health coverage.
• These employers must continue to provide proof of this offer to the IRS with year-end reporting on Forms 1095/4-C:
  • The deadline to provide Form 1095-Cs to employees has just been extended by the IRS to March 2, 2018.
  • The 1094-C filing deadline remains the same. Filing by paper needs to be done by February 28, 2018, and electronic filing (required for employers with more than 250 Form 1095-Cs) must happen by April 2, 2018.
  • The IRS has also extended Good Faith reporting compliance. This means employers that work in good faith to complete the forms will not be assessed penalties for missing or inaccurate information. This penalty relief does not apply to deadlines for providing or filing the forms!

Individual mandate is repealed, but not until 2019!

The requirement that individuals have ACA-compliant coverage or else pay a penalty is repealed in the sense that the penalties are reduced to zero as of 2019. This could have certain consequences for employers down the road.

Let us help you with 2017 ACA reporting. Contact your Wipfli relationship executive today!