The Internal Revenue Service has extended some Affordable Care Act reporting deadlines to help companies meet the requirements.
Employers will have two more months—until March 31—to give individuals 2015 forms for reporting on offers of health coverage and the coverage provided, the IRS said Dec. 28 in Notice 2016-4. These are the Form 1095-B, Health Coverage, and the Form 1095-C, Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage. The former deadline was Feb. 1.
The deadlines for reporting this information to the IRS are extended by three months. The deadlines are now May 31 for those not filing electronically, and June 30 for electronic filers—versus the previous Feb. 29 due date for paper filings, and March 31 deadline for electronic returns.
Reporting to the IRS is done through Form 1094-B, Transmittal of Health Coverage Information Returns; Form 1095-B, Health Coverage; Form 1094-C, Transmittal of Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage Information Returns; and Form 1095-C, Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage.
“The vast majority of individual taxpayers will not be affected by this extension,” the Treasury Department said in a Dec. 28 statement. “Like last tax filing season, most individuals will simply check a box on their tax return indicating they had health coverage for the entire year.”
Extensions Continue
The Obama administration has repeatedly extended deadlines for implementation and insurance enrollment under the ACA, sometimes drawing criticism from opponents. In 2014, Republicans sued the administration, saying the president exceeded his authority by delaying a requirement that most employers provide insurance to workers.
President Barack Obama said in 2013 that employers wouldn’t have to comply with the requirement until 2015. Then in 2014, he further delayed the rule, until 2016, for companies with fewer than 100 workers. A federal judge in Washington declined in September to dismiss the lawsuit.
Earlier this month, the deadline for sign-ups on HealthCare.gov was extended by two days because of high volume.
In 2014, the administration gave people two extra weeks to sign up for coverage because of concerns that technical problems may have prevented people from enrolling.
Notice 2016-4 is scheduled to appear in Internal Revenue Bulletin 2016-3, dated Jan. 19.