As it has done in past years, the IRS has extended the Affordable Care Act ("ACA") deadline for health plan sponsors to furnish individuals IRS Forms 1095-B and 1095-C by 30 days (IRS Notice 2019-63). Under the extension, the deadline for providing individuals Forms 1095-B and 1095-C is March 2, 2020 instead of January 31, 2020 (actually 31 days – the extra day is attributable to 2020 being a leap year and March 1, 2020 being a Sunday). Because of the automatic due date extension, the IRS will not review or grant reporting extensions requested by plan sponsors.
However, the IRS did not extend the due date for filing the 2019 Forms 1094-B, 1095-B, 1094-C, or 1095-C with the IRS. This due date remains February 28, 2020 for paper filings and March 31, 2020 for electronic filings.
The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act reduced to zero the individual shared responsibility payment that applied to individuals who did not have minimum essential coverage beginning January 2019. Because the individual penalty is eliminated and individuals do not need the information reported on Form 1095-B to complete their income tax returns, Notice 2019-63 also provides that the IRS will not assess a penalty against reporting entities (e.g., employers with less than 50 full-time employees) which fail to furnish Form 1095-B if (1) the reporting entity posts a prominent notice on its website stating that individuals may receive a copy of Form 1095-B upon request, with an email address and physical address to which a request may be sent, and a contact telephone number, and (2) the reporting entity furnishes a 2019 Form 1095-B to an individual requesting the form within 30 days of the date the request is received.
This relief does not extend to applicable large employers who must provide a Form 1095-C to full-time employees, but the relief does apply to an individual who is a not a full-time employee for any month in 2019 who must be furnished a Form 1095-C.
Finally, Notice 2019-63 provides that no penalty will apply to reporting entities which report incorrect or incomplete information if the entities can show they made good faith efforts to comply with the information reporting requirements. Entities that fail to file information returns with the IRS or provide statements to covered individuals are not eligible for this relief.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.