The IRS recently released final forms that employers must use to report health coverage that they offer to their employees. These new reporting requirements, which become effective for the 2015 calendar year, were added by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). These requirements are in addition to the requirement already in effect to report the cost of health insurance on Form W-2. Read more about the reporting requirements.

Applicable large employers (with 50 or more full-time and full-time equivalent employees (FTEs) will use 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, to satisfy reporting requirements under Sections 6055 and 6056. Health insurance companies will use Form 1094-B, Transmittal of Health Coverage Information Returns, and Form 1095-B, Health Coverage, to satisfy the Section 6055 reporting requirements.

The forms are nearly identical to the draft forms issued by the IRS in August 2014, but additional guidance was added to the instructions. Highlights of the instruction changes include the following:

Employers with 50–99 FTEs who are exempt from the employer shared responsibility penalties in 2015 are still required to file these forms for 2015.
Some employer plans do not offer coverage to an employee’s spouse if the spouse is covered or offered coverage through the spouse’s employer. The final instructions provide that an offer to a spouse that is subject to a reasonable, objective condition is treated as an offer of coverage for reporting purposes.
Employers that cover non-employees (e.g., COBRA beneficiaries and retirees) may use Forms 1094-B and 1095-B instead of filling out Part II of Form 1095-C to report information for those individuals.
Applicable large employers are required to report their total number of employees. The draft instructions provided that the employer may count the number of employees as of the first or last day of the calendar month. The final instructions add a method for counting employees — the first or last day of the first payroll period starting in the calendar month.
Applicable large employers may be members of a consolidated group. If an employee works for more than one member of the consolidated group, the employee is treated as the employee only of the applicable large employer member for which the employee has the greatest number of hours worked for the month. Only the applicable large employer member treated as the employer for the month reports on Form 1095-C information for that employee for the month.