QUESTION: Our company is an applicable large employer (ALE) that sponsors a fully insured group health plan. We know we have to file Forms 1094-C and 1095-C for the 2017 calendar year. When are these forms due?
ANSWER: ALEs must report to the IRS whether they offered their full-time employees and these employees’ dependents the opportunity to enroll in minimum essential coverage under an eligible employer-sponsored plan, and must provide certain other information that the IRS uses to administer employer shared responsibility (under Code § 4980H), premium tax credits, and individual shared responsibility. ALEs must also provide a related written statement to full-time employees. (Additional requirements apply to ALEs that sponsor self-insured health plans.) Form 1094-C is a transmittal that, in combination with Form 1095-C, satisfies these requirements. You need to be aware of three deadlines:
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March 2, 2018: This is the deadline for furnishing the written statement (Form 1095-C) to full-time employees, reflecting the IRS’s decision (announced in Notice 2018-06—see our Checkpoint article) to provide a blanket 30-day extension of the statutory deadline for 2017 forms. Further extensions of this deadline are not available.
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February 28, 2018: This is the deadline for filing the Form 1094-C transmittal (and copies of related Forms 1095-C) with the IRS, if you are filing on paper.
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April 2, 2018: This is the deadline for filing the Form 1094-C transmittal (and copies of related Forms 1095-C) with the IRS, if you are filing electronically. Electronic filing is mandatory if you are required to file 250 or more Forms 1095-C for the 2017 calendar year; otherwise, electronic filing is encouraged, but not required. Note that in 2018, the normal deadline of March 31 falls on a Saturday, so the deadline moves to the next business day.
You can apply for an automatic 30-day extension of the IRS filing deadline—whether you are a paper or electronic filer—but the extension is available only if you file Form 8809 before the applicable due date.
For more information, see EBIA’s Form 1094/1095 Workbook at Sections IX.C (“Furnishing Employee Statements: Deadline for Furnishing Statements”) and X.B (“Filing With the IRS: Filing Deadlines and Extensions”). See also EBIA’s Health Care Reform manual at Section XXXVI.D (“Information Reporting of Employer-Sponsored Coverage (Applicable Large Employers)”). You may also be interested in our recorded webinar “Get Ready for Form 1094/1095 Reporting for 2017” (recorded on 11/15/17).
Contributing Editors: EBIA Staff.
