The Internal Revenue Service has released Notice 2019-63, extending the deadline for Affordable Care Act (ACA) Form 1095 reporting to individuals and the good faith compliance defense for reporting errors consistent with the relief that has been available in prior years. The deadline to provide the 2019 Forms 1095 (B or C) to individuals is extended to March 2, 2020. We understand that no additional extension will be available for this obligation.
The deadline to file the 2019 Forms 1094/1095 with the IRS has not been extended. Please consider that entities filing 250 or more forms must file electronically. Similarly, for electronic filers, the deadline for entities filing electronically is March 31, 2020, while the deadline for entities filing by paper is February 28, 2020.
An automatic 30-day extension of the deadline to file with the IRS may be requested by using Form 8809. The IRS will not assess penalties for missing or inaccurate information if the 2019 forms are completed and filed in good faith. Entities who fail to provide and/or file forms altogether are not eligible for this relief. Reporting entities are still required to file Forms 1095-B with the IRS. It is unclear if insurance carriers will abandon automatically providing Forms 1095-B to covered participants for 2019.
There are existing special limited transition relief related to the ACA Individual Mandate Form 1095-B. Form 1095-B is primarily used by insurance carriers to report fully insured coverage. Because individuals no longer need the information on Form 1095-B to avoid an individual mandate penalty (which is now $0), the IRS has announced it will not assess a penalty for failing to furnish Form 1095-B if both of the following are true:
The reporting entity posts a notice prominently on its website stating that responsible individuals may receive a copy of their 2019 Form 1095-B upon request, accompanied by:
- An email address and physical address to send requests to, and
- A telephone number that individuals may contact with questions.
The reporting entity furnished a 2019 Form 1095-B to any responsible individual upon request within 30 days of the date the request is received.
Self-insured applicable large employers (ALEs) must continue to provide Forms 1095-C to their ACA full-time employees and report coverage on Part III. However, the IRS did grant special transition relief identical to the Form 1095-B relief described above when reporting coverage for an individual who was not an ACA full-time employee for any month during 2019. This can include part-time employees as well as COBRA participants and retirees (usually beginning the year after the COBRA qualifying event or retirement).
ALEs will continue to be required to file all Forms 1095-C with the IRS and provide Forms 1095-C to employees who were ACA full-time employees for at least one month during the calendar year.
In response to reduction of the ACA’s individual mandate penalty to $0, several states, including New Jersey, recently passed their own ACA-style individual mandates requiring taxpayers to provide proof of coverage to avoid penalties. Form 1095-C can generally be used for this purpose which will pressure insurers and ALEs to deliver Forms 1095 to all covered individuals in at least those states. The individual mandate in New Jersey is effective for 2019 and requires duplicate Forms 1095 be filed by the insurer or ALE with the state of New Jersey.
Any questions can be referred to Cynthia Borrelli.