Preparing for the Affordable Care Act (ACA)

To ensure compliance with the Employer Shared Responsibility provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), your company may be required to file these forms concerning health care coverage:

• Form 1094-C Transmittal of Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage Information Returns

  You file this form for your company. It lists the number of full-time employees and the total number of employees each month. It also includes additional information if your company is a member of an Aggregated ALE (Applicable Large Employer) Group.

• Form 1095-C Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage

  You file a separate form for each full-time employee. It indicates whether your company offered minimum essential health insurance to the employee and family, and the employee share of the lowest-cost coverage. If the employee enrolled in an employer self-insured plan, it also lists the individuals covered.

Note: Reports for the 2015 year are due in early 2016.

Refer to the Internal Revenue Service website to find out:

• Whether your company qualifies as a large employer, and if you need to report employee healthcare coverage on these forms.
• The definitions of "minimum essential health coverage" and "self-insured plan."
• Detailed information about the codes defined by the ACA, and which codes to use in your company.

You may also want to contact your tax advisor for assistance with the ACA requirements.

If you are required to report health care information for 2016, you must track ACA hours beginning with the first paycheck in 2016. It is a good idea to assemble the required employee and dependent information ahead of time so that you can enter it in Sage 100 Contractor early in January 2016.

Tasks to complete before the new year

You should complete each of the following tasks before the start of each new year.

• Determine whether your company is subject to reporting under the Affordable Care Act
• Educate yourself about the Affordable Care Act
• Assemble employee and dependent information

Determine whether your company is subject to reporting under the Affordable Care Act

   Visit the IRS website (http://www.irs.gov/Affordable-Care-Act) or consult your tax advisor to find out whether your company qualifies as a Large Company under the ACA.

Educate yourself about the Affordable Care Act

Visit SageCity (http://sagecity.na.sage.com/p/aca.aspx ) to view the training videos and other resources designed to help you become familiar with the ACA.

Assemble employee and dependent coverage information

   Obtain the following information for each employee:

• Name
• Social Security Number
• Work Status (Full Time, Part Time, Seasonal, Exempt)
• Offer of Coverage Code (as defined under the Act)
• Safe Harbor Code ( as defined under the Act)
• Share of Min Plan Premium (the employee's share of the lowest premium)
• Months covered by insurance

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If the health care plan you offer your employees is self-insured, obtain the following information about the employee's spouse and each dependent:

• Name
• Social Security Number or Date of Birth
• Months covered by insurance

Tasks to complete as early as possible in the new year

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Enter the ACA Policy Origin Code for your company on the General Information tab in the 7-2 Company Information window. (This code is required when you submit ACA 1094-B or 1095-B reports.)

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Enter health care coverage for each employee in the top portion of the ACA tab in the 5-2-1 Employees window.

• Name
• Social Security Number
• Work Status (Full Time, Part Time, Seasonal, Exempt)
• Offer of Coverage Code (as defined under the Act)
• Safe Harbor Code ( as defined under the Act)
• Share of Min Plan Premium (the employee's share of the lowest premium)
• Months covered by insurance

Tip: If you have a large number of employees for which you need to update these ACA settings, use the Update All Employee's ACA Settings window. (For more information, see Updating ACA Settings for All Employees

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If you offer your employees health care coverage under a self-insured plan, enter the following information for the employee's spouse and each dependent in the bottom portion of the ACA tab in the 5-2-1 Employees window:

• Name
• Social Security Number or Date of Birth
• Months covered by insurance

Tip: If you have a large number of employees, use the Update All Employees' ACA Settings window to update Offer of Coverage,

Tasks to complete periodically throughout the new year

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When paying employees, ensure that ACA hours are entered for each pay period in the 5-2-2 Payroll Records window.

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Print and review 5-4-3 ACA Allocation report on a monthly basis to see if there are any discrepancies between ACA hours and actual hours, and reconcile them as necessary. (Discrepancies are noted with an asterisk at the bottom of the report.)