ACA Reporting Requirements for 2015 Tax Filings

The individual shared responsibility provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires virtually all individuals to have qualifying health insurance for the entire year, report a health coverage exemption, or make a payment when filing their your tax return. Starting in 2016, you may receive one or more forms providing information about the health care coverage that you had or were offered during the previous year. Much like Form W-2 and Form 1099 which include information about the income you received, these new health care forms provide information that you may need when you file your individual income tax return.

The new forms are:

• Form 1095-A, Health Insurance Marketplace Statement. The Health Insurance Marketplace sends this form to individuals who enrolled in coverage there, with information about the coverage, who was covered, and when.
• Form 1095-B, Health Coverage. Health insurance providers (for example, health insurance companies) send this form to individuals they cover, with information about who was covered and when.
• Form 1095-C, Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage. Certain employers send this form to certain employees, with information about what coverage the employer offered. Employers that offer health coverage referred to as “self-insured coverage” send this form to individuals they cover, with information about who was covered and when.

If you obtained health insurance coverage from more than one employer in 2015, you will receive a separate 1095-B and 1095-C form from each employer and health insurance company that offered or provided coverage.

Filing Your 2015 Tax Return

Some taxpayers may not receive a Form 1095-B or Form 1095-C by the time they are ready to file their 2015 tax returns. While the information on these forms may assist in preparing a return, they are not required. The deadline for insurers, other coverage providers and certain employers to provide Forms 1095-B and 1095-C has been extended to March 31, 2016. Individual taxpayers will generally not be affected by this extension and should file their returns as they normally would. Once your tax return is filed, save the forms for your records. The IRS will receive their own copy of each of the forms for comparison purposes.

Form W-2

Employers are typically required to issue Form W-2 by January 31^st.  In addition to containing important financial data related to your income, the Form W-2 also contains information related to employee benefits. Some highlights of the benefits data include:

• Box 10: Dependent care benefits. Box 10 shows the total amount of dependent care benefits that your employer paid to you or incurred on your behalf. This would include employer-provided day care costs, or employer-reimbursed day care costs. Amounts under $5,000 are non-taxable benefits. Any amount over $5,000 is reported as taxable wages in Boxes 1, 3 and 5.
• Box 12, Code C: Taxable benefit of group term life insurance over $50,000. This amount is included as part of your taxable wages in Boxes 1, 3 and 5.
• Box 12, Code T: Employer-paid adoption benefits
• Box 12, Code W: Employer and employee contributions to a health savings account.
• Box 12, Code DD: The cost of non-taxable health insurance provided through your employer.

For more information about understanding your W-2, please click here.