We work closely with employers (mostly ALEs) and an array of service providers – payroll processors, benefit plan consultants and administrators, software developers and transmitters, employee leasing firms, insurance brokers and insurers. We’re hearing from them and from others pretty consistent impressions of the state of employer readiness to furnish (by February 1, 2016) and to file (by March 31, if electronically) 2015 Forms 1094-C and 1095-C.

The service providers are astonished that it has taken so long to get employers’ attention and that so many employers remain uninformed about and uninvested in this substantial effort. Some providers, having dedicated the limits of their resources for this filing season, are turning away business.

Employers say that everyone just seems to be trying to sell them something, and that they don’t know enough to judge between offerings, except by price or guarantees. Few have planned or budgeted adequately for what they are discovering to be a substantial burden and expense. Occasionally, we hear about a price or a guarantee that’s too good to be true. Upon investigation, it was.

If you are on either side of this divide, and if you are willing to be interviewed about your experience for publication here, please let us hear from you. We’re particularly interested in these sub-topics.

Employers:

• Have you read the 2015 Instructions for Forms 1094-C and 1095-C?
• Have you educated yourself about the magnitude of this IT project? For example, have you read IRS (Early Look) Publications 5164 and 5165 for AIR (ACA Information Return) system software developers and transmitters?
• Have you selected an IT solution that requires the employer to generate and submit Forms 1094-C and 1095-C to an AIR transmitter for IRS uploading? Or is the transmitter importing employer or third party data to generate the Forms, subject to employer review and filing approval? Will your provider furnish Form 1095-C to your employees, or will you?
• Have you been unable to reach an agreement with an IT solution provider? What have been the major obstacles? Are you still looking?

Employers and Service Providers:

• What arrangements have been made to claim § 4980H credit for leasing company coverage offers made to full-time leased workers employed longer than the applicable waiting period but less than one year? Do you know how Form 1095-C will be generated, furnished and filed for each of those leased workers?
• Will your IT solution auto-fill Form 1095-C, Lines 14, 15 and 16, or must those cells be populated manually?