Can you believe summer is almost over?
Interesting Fact: According to the astronomical definition, fall begins with the autumnal equinox. In the Northern hemisphere, it’s the September equinox, while in the Southern hemisphere, it is the equinox in March. That means, Fall or “ACA season” for ETC clients starts September 22, 2022, at 8:03 pm.
https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/autumnal-equinox.html
Depending on your level of service with the ETC Companies, your team will start reaching out for any missing data in the next few weeks. Keep in mind that to accurately report to the IRS, ETC must have the eligible employee population (ETC tracks it, or you share it) as well as everyone who enrolled in coverage for the tax year. Regardless of your plan year, the data reported is for the tax year.
If using benefit administration tools, please speak to your team about the available exports in the system of record so that ETC can make filing season easier on you. If you do not use technology to enroll or waive your employees on healthcare, talk to your ETC team about the specific carrier files that are available to be requested this time of year.
Payroll or Contact Lists: The source data for your employee workforce should be exported from the payroll or benefits administration system of record. The 1095 forms should match where the employee receives their W2 so in 90% of the cases, using the payroll system to gather this information is the most accurate source of information for use with 1095 creation.
Benefit Information: Ensure that your benefit enrollment or benefit declination file uses full SSN for each employee and any required dependents. The ETC Companies prides itself on not forcing clients to adhere to just one set format. The goal is to map the data elements that can be gathered with little effort on the client’s behalf to the appropriate data element used in preparing a 1095 form. Carriers have done a pretty amazing job at providing source data for client companies.
Regardless of if you want to review 1095-C forms 2x a year or just tackle this project 1x a year, the time is upon us. Please work with your specific service pod to upload data timely.
Be on the lookout for direct communication from your POD about timelines and requested information. Cheers to making 2022 forms even easier than 2021.
ETC looks forward to serving you through your ACA compliance obligations.