Deadlines Extended for Furnishing Forms 1095-B and 1095-C in Early 2017
Good Faith Penalty Relief Also Extended
The IRS has extended the due dates for furnishing 2016 Forms 1095-B and 1095-C to covered individuals and full-time employees, respectively, from January 31, 2017, to March 2, 2017. In addition, the IRS is also extending good faith penalty relief to reporting entities who can show they made good faith efforts to comply with the calendar year 2016 information reporting requirements.
Who is Required to Report
Applicable large employers (generally those with 50 or more full-time employees, including full-time equivalents or FTEs) must use Forms 1094-C and 1095-C to report information to the IRS and to their full-time employees about their compliance with the employer shared responsibility provisions (“pay or play”) and the health care coverage they have offered in a calendar year. Alternatively, Forms 1094-B and 1095-B are used by insurers, self-insuring employers, and other parties that provide minimum essential health coverage (regardless of size, except for large self-insuring employers) to report information on this coverage to the IRS and to covered individuals. Employers subject to bothreporting provisions (generally self-insured employers with 50 or more full-time employees, including FTEs) will satisfy their reporting obligations using Forms 1094-C and 1095-C.
Note: Reporting entities are required to report in early 2017 for coverage offered (or not offered) in calendar year 2016.
Furnishing Deadline Extension
The IRS has extended the due dates for furnishing 2016 Forms 1095-B and 1095-C to covered individuals and full-time employees, respectively, from January 31, 2017, to March 2, 2017. However, the deadline to file 2016 Forms 1094-B, 1095-B, 1094-C, and 1095-C with the IRS was not extended, and remains February 28, 2017 (or March 31, 2017, if filing electronically).
Good Faith Penalty Relief Extension
Internal Revenue Code sections 6721 and 6722 impose penalties for failing to file and furnish an accurate and complete information return, including Forms 1094 and 1095. However, the IRS is extending penalty relief to reporting entities that can show that they made good faith efforts to comply with the calendar year 2016 information reporting requirements. This relief applies to missing and inaccurate taxpayer identification numbers and dates of birth, as well as other information required on the return or statement.
In determining good faith, the IRS will take into account whether an employer made reasonable efforts to prepare for reporting the required information to the IRS and furnishing it to employees and covered individuals, such as gathering and transmitting the necessary data to an agent to prepare the data for submission to the IRS, or testing its ability to transmit information to the IRS. In addition, the IRS will take into account the extent to which the employer is taking steps to ensure that it will be able to comply with the reporting requirements for calendar year 2017.
Extensions Apply to Calendar Year 2016 Reporting Only
The extensions for furnishing Forms 1095-B and 1095-C apply to calendar year 2016 reporting only and have no effect on the requirements for other years or on the effective dates or application of the pay or play provisions. Specifically, the IRS does not anticipate extending due dates or good faith penalty relief to reporting for calendar year 2017.
