As mentioned in a prior ACA Compliance Bulletin, 2020 Health Plan Compliance Deadlines, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Notice 2019-63 in regard to the annual filing requirements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) Sections 6055 and 6056 for the 2019 plan year. On December 2, 2019 the IRS issued Notice 2019-63 providing transition relief for the annual filing. The notice states:
- The deadline for providing health plan participants with their 2019 Form 1095-B and 2019 Form 1095-C has been extended by 31 days from January 31, 2020 to March 2, 2020.
- The good-faith transition relief from penalties provision has been extended for an additional year to apply to PPACA 2019 filing. The transition relief provision provides reprieve from PPACA penalties to employers who report incorrect or incomplete information during the PPACA required filing process. Thus, as long as an employer shows that they made a good-faith effort to comply with the PPACA reporting requirements, both in furnishing forms to individuals and filing with the IRS, penalties will be waived. The relief does not apply to forms that were provided untimely to individuals or delayed filings with the IRS.
- Lastly, the IRS is providing additional penalty relief for employers who offer fully-insured health plans and issue 1095-B forms. In Notice 2019-63 the IRS states that 1095-B forms only need to be provided to employees upon request and does not need to be automatically issued to employees for the 2019 plan year.
It is important to note that Notice 2019-63 has no impact on the actual Section 6055 and 6056 2019 plan year reporting deadline, those deadlines remain as follows:
- Paper filing is due to the IRS by February 28, 2020 for the 2019 health plan year.
- Electronic filing is due to the IRS by March 31, 2020 for the 2019 health plan year.
The attached ACA Compliance Bulletin has additional information regarding the changes under Notice 2019-63 and the impacts on the 2019 PPACA reporting process.
Contact your Cowden representative for more information on this or other compliance issues.