Under the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, “applicable large employers” must offer health insurance to their workers.
A company is an “applicable large employer” if it has at least 50 full-time or full-time equivalent employees. A full-time worker is one who works at least 30 hours per week. A full-time equivalent is two or more part-time employees whose hours add up to one full-time equivalent (two employees working 15 hours per week each would equal one full-time employee working 30 hours per week).
“Applicable large employers” will be required to file Form 1095-C, which is an annual statement to all employees eligible for coverage describing the insurance that is available to them. For 2015 and years thereafter, Form 1095-C is a required filing. Form 1095-C must be delivered to employees by the end of January 2016 and submitted to the IRS before the end of February 2016 (the end of March if filing electronically). Employers with more than 250 forms are required to file electronically.
Form 1095-C must include the following information:
- The names of the employee and employer
- Which months during the year the employee was eligible for coverage
- The cost of the cheapest monthly premium the employee could have paid under the plan
If the “applicable large employer” does not offer health insurance to its employees, Form 1095-C is still required and the Form will indicate such. “Applicable large employers” who don’t offer health coverage may be subject to financial penalties.
Other Forms you may have heard of
1094-C – this is basically the cover sheet that accompanies the filing of the Form 1095-Cs.
1095-B – this form is sent out by the insurance company rather than the employer and provides details about an employee’s actual insurance coverage. Important note: if the employer is self-insured, the employer will be required to fulfill the filing requirements of both Form 1095-C and 1095-B.
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