How to Prepare for ACA Reporting Year to Year

Step 1: Determine if your company needs to report for ACA for the current year.

ACA reporting is required for ‘Applicable Large Employers’ also known as ALEs that have 50 or more full time/ fulltime equivalent employees. The purpose of the annual ACA reporting requirement is to certify that employers are offering minimum essential coverage (MEC) to at least 95% of eligible employees. To determine if your company needs to report for ACA in the current year, you would have had to have 50 or more full time/fulltime equivalent employees that worked for your company in the prior calendar year.

The ‘Fulltime/Fulltime Equivalent Employees’ report in CertiPay calculates hours worked for all employees during each month of the calendar year. This report will tell you if you had 50 or more full-time employees in the previous year.

To locate the ‘Fulltime/Fulltime Equivalent Employees’ report in CertiPay, please follow the steps below:

  • Click on the Reporting tab and where you see ‘Report Sub Type’, select ‘Affordable Care Act’.

  • Under the Affordable Care Act Sub Type select the ‘Fulltime/Fulltime Equivalent Employees’ report.

  • Update the Date Range to reflect ‘Previous Year’ and then click ‘Interactive View’. You also have the option to click ‘Summary’ to generate a summarized report.

  • On this report, you will see all employees’ average hours worked per week and when you scroll all the way down, you will see the total average number of fulltime employees for the year. That number is what you can go by to determine whether you need to ACA report for the current year. If it’s under 50, then you are not required to ACA report, if it’s 50 or more, then you are required to report.

 

Step 2: My Company is Required to report for ACA – Now What?

Now that you have determined your company is required to report for ACA, it is imperative the proper updates to company level benefits and employee profiles are made to obtain ACA compliance within CertiPay so IRS penalties can be avoided.

Attached are two helpful documents on how to achieve ACA compliance within the CertiPay application.

If you have questions on the attachments and are seeking an ACA training, please reach out to your dedicated service team at clientservices@certipay.com 

 

Step 3: What can CertiPay do to help me prepare for ACA Filing?

CertiPay offers ACA Compliance services that require groups to enroll on a year-to-year basis. This is a separate cost from the ACA per form fees for the company 1094-C and employee(s) 1095-C. Below are the two services and what they include.

ACA/Benefits Setup & 4th Quarter ACA Audit:

  • Enter new plan year benefits that fall within the reporting year at the company level

  • Update employee payroll deductions/earnings

  • Attach employee benefit elections to HR profile

  • Overview of Offer of Coverage and Safe Harbor Codes

  • Profile update to report for non-benefit eligible employees in a Limited Non-Assessment Period

  • Personalized training to maintain compliance for New Hires and Terminated employees

  • Assist with completion of the ACA Electronic Transmittal (required to have CertiPay report on your behalf)

  • 4th quarter audit of ACA data prior to generating and submitting ACA forms to the IRS

4th Quarter ACA Audit:

  • Review medical benefits setup to verify all required fields are populated

  • Review Section 6056 Form 1095-C Employee Audit report to determine any employees that need to be addressed for accurate reporting

  • Advised the client on any updates that are needed and how to update the company level/employee profile properly

  • Note: The above 4th quarter ACA audit does not include data entry. The benefits specialist will notify the client on any items that need to be reviewed and updated

 

**Please note: If you use I-Enroller or any Benefit Interface, your benefits are already set up for you as a part of your renewal process, however ACA compliance is not guaranteed. If you choose to enroll in one of our ACA compliance services as an I-Enroller or Benefit Interface client, a discount will be applied for those ACA services.

If you are interested in one of the above services, please reach out to your dedicated service team at clientservices@certipay.com