MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Health E(fx), the country’s leading provider of cloud-based Affordable Care Act management and compliance solutions for business and the benefits industry, studied the Supreme Court’s June 25 ruling on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and shares how the decision impacts U.S. employers. The Court maintains the status quo, keeping intact the three key provisions of the ACA: the “non-discrimination rule”, the individual mandate, and the state and federal exchanges.
“With the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision on the ACA, employers now know that subsidies will remain available in all states with federally established or partnership exchanges,” said Andy Brown, Health E(fx) president and CEO. “The ruling also maintains the mandate that employers may be subject to potential penalties with respect to the granting of subsidies or tax credits.”
Brown; whose company Health E(fx) works with large employers, third-party administrators, and HR Outsourcing organizations across the country delivering robust solutions that provide ACA compliance; goes on to say that the last week’s ruling is consistent with IRS messages and information indicating that annual reporting will proceed as scheduled for 2015 with the first 1094-B/C filed this year and 1095- B/C submissions due February 1, 2016. To ensure all companies were aware of the deadlines, the IRS previously communicated a new reporting format, a testing schedule for the 2014 voluntary year as well as the 2015 mandatory year, and also released 2015 draft forms.
The ACA requirement that employers track employees and their dependents with respect to their health coverage on a monthly basis became effective earlier this year on January 1, 2015.
“Employers who have been managing the ACA’s reporting requirements throughout the year are tracking and managing their employees’ full-time, eligibility determination,” said Brown. “Additionally, they are also handling the required data aggregation, any erroneous data clean up, meeting IRS-required reporting standards, and making any business policy decisions that are needed along the way. Essentially, this group is ahead of the curve and will have data prepared and the required forms - 1094-B/C and 1095-B/C - ready to file as dictated by IRS deadlines.”
As data is critical to reporting, Health E(fx) advises that employers who have not yet started or are just beginning this process to work quickly and prepare their 2015 data.
Commented Brown, “With a full year’s worth of monthly data needed for accurate reporting in 2016, complacency can put an employer at significant risk for reporting penalties and underlying ACA excise taxes.”
While there is sure to be continued discussion around the ACA and the high court’s King vs. Burwell decision, ignoring the inevitable reporting and compliance that the act requires may be a risk for any organization. Health E(fx) provides clients with the expertise, analysis, critical tools, data, and capabilities needed for the complex ACA tracking, audit, reporting and management requirements.
About Health E(fx) Solutions.
Health
E(fx) is a recognized leader of ACA compliance and management solutions
for Employers, Third Party Administrators, and HR Solution Outsourcing.
Health E(fx) manages ACA compliance and reporting for over 3.2 million
employees across a variety of industries including retail, hospitality,
education, staffing and temporary services, manufacturing,
transportation, health services, grocery, and large food services
companies. Named ‘Top HR Product of 2014’, by HR Magazine, Health
E(fx)’s solutions manage all eligibility determination and tracking,
safe harbors, regulatory compliance reports and other employer-mandated
responsibilities under health reform. Each solution is system agnostic
and delivers data modeling and analytics to help optimize and manage
benefits, workforce strategy and more. The comprehensive programs exceed
all of the ACA’s data validity and audit requirements, making it a
preferred solution for HR managers in variety of industries including
retail, hospitality, education, staffing and temporary services,
manufacturing, transportation, health services, grocery, and large food
services companies. For more information, please visit: www.healthefx.us.
