Happy Thanksgiving from ExpressACAForms!

From our family at ExpressACAForms to yours, a very happy Thanksgiving to you! We’d like to extend our gratitude for each and every one of our customers this holiday season. This is our first Thanksgiving, and we couldn’t be more grateful for all of the hard work and effort that went into getting us up and running for the new year of Affordable Care Act forms.

These new forms are probably the furthest thing from your mind today, and that’s okay. We’ll still be here when you’re ready to provide the easiest and quickest way to file your 1094 and 1095 forms. And as an extra thank you for trying our program, filing for the 2014 tax year is absolutely free!

In the meantime, our office will be closed today, Thanksgiving, and tomorrow, November 27th. Email support will be available again tomorrow and throughout the weekend at support@expressirsforms.com.

Thank you again for choosing ExpressACAForms. We appreciate your business and wish you the happiest of Thanksgivings!

Dare to Care: Manage Your Stress this Holiday Season

This Thursday marks the beginning of the 2015 holiday season. From now until the end of the year, we’re going to be surrounded by all that makes this the most wonderful time of the year: dinners and get-togethers with family and friends, bright and colorful decorations, glad tidings of great joy! Not to mention the interminable chats with the in-laws, the multitude of crowds, an ever-growing waistline, and, oh, who are we kidding? We haven’t stopped being stressed since October 1st when we first started seeing that blasted red and green in stores.

Stress is a normal part of life. But even the normalcies of life can be aggravating at best and, at worst, unhealthy. Stress becomes negative when a person faces continuous challenges without relief or relaxation between challenges (sound familiar?). Stress that continues without relief can lead to headaches, upset stomach, elevated blood sugar, chest pain, and problems sleeping. These symptoms can worsen over time, causing chronic illness or disease, like heart problems, diabetes, skin conditions, asthma, arthritis, depression, and anxiety.

The good thing about overcoming your stress is that it’s most often free and rarely takes too much of the precious time you’re stressing over. That’s why we’ve rounded up a few ways to help you dodge the seasonal (and future) stress and stay happy, healthy and energized:

• Get some sun! Sunlight stimulates the production of feel-good serotonin and helps relieve seasonal affective disorder (SAD).
• Take a whiff of citrus. Certain citrus fragrances boost good feelings and alleviate stress by upping levels of the hormone norepinephrine. For an all-day pick-me-up, dab a little lemon or orange essential oil on a handkerchief to tuck in your pocket.
• Go for a walk. The rhythm and repetition of walking has a tranquilizing effect on your brain, and it decreases anxiety and improves sleep. Try a brisk, 30 minute walk daily. Plus, workouts can boost your mood for up to 12 hours.
• Utilize pressure points. If you don’t have time for a foot massage, apply firm pressure for 30 seconds to the fleshy place between your index finger and thumb to reduce stress and tension in your upper body.
• Stick to your daily routine. “Prioritize your workouts, book club, etc., and don’t try to squeeze in more holiday than you can handle,” recommends Katherine Muller, PsyD.
• Spice it up. Spicy foods trigger the release of endorphins, the natural chemicals that trigger feelings of euphoria and well-being.
• Or keep it sweet. Eat a spoonful of honey for an instant kick and energy for the long haul. Plus, research shows that its antioxidant and antibacterial properties may improve your immunity. And the darker the honey, the more powerful the antioxidant punch!
• Listen to music. Anxious? Research from the University of Maryland shows that hearing music you love can relax blood vessels and increase blood flow. This not only calms you down, but is good for your heart, too.
• Go for the mangoes. If you’re craving something sweet, grab a mango. The sweet, tangy scent of mangoes (fresh or jarred!) may alter your blood chemistry and send a wave of calm over your body, research from Japan shows.
• Think positive. As hard as it may be, don’t focus on the bad. Negative thinking can trigger your body’s stress response, just as a real threat does. An optimistic outlook will help you cope with challenges that come your way.
• Don’t forget to laugh! Laughing reduces stress hormones and, in turn, helps immune cells function better. All this stress building up won’t matter a week, a month, or a year from now. So whether you burn the pumpkin pie or forget that you said you’d let Great Aunt Muriel stay with you, laugh it off. Enjoy your holidays; don’t stress over them.

At ExpressACAForms, we want to help you not just “get through” this holiday season, but to really enjoy it. If you’re going to “get through” anything, get through this tax season coming up. But not until after you relax and spend a fun holiday surrounded by loved ones. Then you can use ExpressACAForms for as stress-free of a tax filing season as possible! If you run into any snags or have a question, you can get in touch with us via phone and live chat Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at (704) 839-2270. We also offer 24/7 email support at support@expressirsforms.com.

ACA Forms: What Your Recipients Should Know

If you’re a frequent flier of our Express tax products blogs, you might experience a little déjà vu when reading this one, because today we’re going to focus on what your employees and recipients should know about the Affordable Care Act information return forms. But bear with us, and we’ll try to spice things up for you as you re-review this information!

When we talk about the new ACA Forms 1094 and 1095, we tend to focus on the employers and the providers of health care coverage. Which makes sense: the responsibility of completing and filing these forms falls on them. But there’s a good chance that, at this point, your employees or recipients have asked you about what they need to know about the new ACA filing requirements.

The more you can do to educate your employees or recipients about Forms 1094 and 1095 and their purposes, the less likely you are to deal with confused and frustrated employees or clients. You may even want to consider sending out a notice or having a meeting to explain these forms and how they’ll affect your recipients.

Quick! Who makes the better detective, Sherlock Holmes or a tax accountant? The tax account: she makes more deductions.

Told ya we’d try to spice things up for you (winky-face emoticon).

Anyway, your employees should know that the ACA requires all employers with 50 or more full-time employees are required to provide affordable health coverage to their employees. These employers and other providers of minimum essential health care coverage will send out a Form 1095 (either B or C) to recipients to provide information about this coverage each January, around the same time they receive their W-2 or 1099s. This form indicates that they had health care coverage for all 12 months, unless they declined enrollment or an error has been made. Let your recipients know who they should contact if an error has been made on their 1095 form. Make sure that if an error does occur, your recipient’s form is updated along with the copy that is transmitted to the IRS.

You can stress the importance of the ACA forms without stressing out your employees or your clients. Make sure there’s someone they can come to who can answer questions about their forms.

And if you need any help with the ACA forms - or keeping stress-free when you file them - don’t hesitate to reach out to us. ExpressACAForms is here for you every step of the way: just give us a call at (704) 839-2270, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; live chat us through our website; or send us an email 24/7 at support@expressirsforms.com!

But Why ExpressACAForms?

Filing for the 2015 tax year hasn’t even begun yet, but there’s a good chance you’re already tired of hearing about the new Affordable Care Act forms that are required to be filed next year. In fact, there’s a good chance you’re just tired of the Affordable Care Act altogether at this point.

So that probably means you want to get these forms done as quickly and easily as possible so you can focus on other, more important things, right? Unless, of course, you’re the type to close your eyes and ears and shut yourself in your room until the scary, mean form goes away. But since we don’t get to do that so often as adults, you might want to go for the former option with these ACA forms.

One of the quickest and easiest ways to get Forms 1094-B/C and 1095-B/C completed and filed with the IRS is to e-file with ExpressACAForms. If you’ve used one of our other tax filing products (like ExpressTaxFilings or Express990), then you’re probably already familiar with how we break down these complicated IRS forms into easy-to-understand questions. Since you won’t be spending so much time trying to decipher Forms 1094 and 1095, you’ll be able to finish them in a fraction of the time it would’ve taken you to paper file.

ExpressACAForms also saves you time and headaches by making sure your forms are filed and accepted the first time around. We guarantee accurate calculations based on the information you enter, and before anything gets sent to the IRS, our exclusive audit check feature will review your form for any obvious errors.

And, as always, our customer support is beyond stellar. Our team of e-filing experts are located right here in the United States -- Rock Hill, South Carolina to be exact -- and are always happy to help you out. Just give us a call Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST at (704) 839-2270, or send us a live chat through our website. We also offer 24/7 email support at support@expressirsforms.com.

Oh, and did we mention that you can e-file your ACA forms for the current 2014 tax year absolutely free? Because you can. So give us a shot, and see why you’ll want to keep filing with ExpressACAForms!

Introducing ACE: The World's First E-Filing Superhero!

“Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird, it’s a plane! No...wait, it’s a guy in an orange cape? Oh and his cape snagged on a tree. Yep, he’s down. You see, that’s why capes just aren’t practical.

Ahh that sounds like Ace, the world’s first e-filing superhero. Ace no longer wears a cape, but he does still fly around, helping wherever he can.

No one’s really sure where Ace came from. He just sort of appeared one day. According to his YouTube channel, he was born in a lab, created by scientists “Frankenstein-style.” It was here that he was exposed to high levels of radiation and C-SPAN videos about the Affordable Care Act, somehow giving him the abilities of flight, super-strength, and infinite knowledge about the ACA.

Ace has vowed never to rest until his arch nemesis, Confusion, is defeated once and for all so that ACA forms may be e-filed in peace and harmony. While she apparently has yet to be defeated, no one other than Ace seems to have ever seen her. He just kind of appears, answers questions people have, and abruptly leaves to continue to “fight the good fight” against her.

Ace doesn’t have a utility belt, but he considers his most important tools for fighting Confusion to be his “super awesome brain” and ExpressACAForms.com. When he’s not dropping in (sometimes quite literally) and answering questions about the ACA forms themselves, he regales the city with tales of the ease and speed of e-filing with ExpressACAForms.

“They’ve made the questions easy to understand and provide help text for every step of the way,” Ace said in his most recent address to the public. “And my sidekicks in Rock Hill, South Carolina - where ExpressACAForms is based - are every bit as helpful and knowledgeable as I am! Maybe even more so, as I’ve equipped the fish guarding their office with psychic Confusion-fighting abilities!” Ironically, his last statement that day did cause a bit of confusion in the crowd, which Ace was then quick to clear up.

So he’s not exactly Superman. Okay, okay, he barely beats out Hindsight Lad as far as superpowers go, but he’s trying his best. Plus he refuses to leave until Confusion is gone forever, so we may have to get used to seeing him around. But, hey, at least he does everything with a smile.



For help e-filing from one of Ace’s “sidekicks,” give us a live chat us or call at (704) 839-2270, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST, or send us an email anytime at support@expressirsforms.com!

ExpressACA Cares: Veterans Day

We at SPAN Enterprises, parent company of ExpressACAForms, would like to take a break from telling you about the wonders that are the Affordable Care Act forms by dedicating this blog post to Veterans Day and extending our deepest gratitudes to those who have served and who continue to serve.

On June 28, 1919, the Treaty of Versailles was signed that officially ended World War I, the war to end all wars (or so we thought). However, the fighting actually ended seven months earlier when an armistice, or temporary ceasefire, between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. A year later, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day.

On May 13, 1938, the 11th of November was made into a legal holiday, a day to be dedicated each year to the cause of world peace, known as Armistice Day. Armistice Day was primarily set aside to honor veterans of World War I, but in 1954, after World War II required the greatest mobilization of soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen in the nation’s history; after American forces fought aggression in Korea, the Act of 1938 was amended by striking out the word “Armistice” and inserting in its place the word “Veterans.”

Veterans Day continues to be observed on November 11, regardless of what day of the week on which it falls. Not to be confused with Memorial Day, a day to remember those who gave their lives while serving, Veterans Day celebrates the service of all U.S. military veterans. It is a day to say thank you to those who have risked - and still risk - their lives when their country needed them.

In honor of all that you’ve done, there are many restaurants and companies who want to honor and thank veterans by providing you with discounts or a free meal:

-Applebees, free meal -Bar Louie, free meal -BJs Restaurant and Brewhouse, free entry -Bob Evans, free all you can eat hotcakes -Bonanza Steakhouse, free buffet -Brann’s Steakhouse and Grille, free 6 oz sirloin -Buehler’s Grocery, free breakfast -Buffalo’s Cafe, free meal -Calhoun’s Restaurant, free meal -California Pizza Kitchen, free meal -Carraba’s, free appetizer -Cattlemens Steakhouse, free 8 oz sirloin -CentraArchy Restaurants, free meal, 25% off guests -Cheeseburger in Paradise, free burger -Chili’s, free meal -City’s Barbeque, free sandwich platter -Claim Jumper, free entree -Cotton Patch Cafe, free meal

-Country Cookin, free meal -Denny’s, free Grand Slam -Fatz, free meal -Fox & Hound and Bailey’s Sports Grille, free sandwich -Friendly’s, free meal -Glory Days, free app/wings -Golden Corral, free meal -Green Mill, free lunch or dinner -Grub Burger Bar, 50% off meal & free shake -Hooters, free meal -Hoss’s Family Steak & Sea House, free meal -Hurricane Grill & Wings, free meal -Hy-Vee, free breakfast -IHOP, free pancakes -Little Caesars Pizza, free pizza -LongHorn Steakhouse, free Texas Tonion and drink -Max & Erma’s, free cheeseburger -McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurants, free lunch or dinner -Menchie’s, free 6 oz fro-yo -Misison BBQ, free meal -MOD Pizza, free pizza/salad -O’Charley’s, free entree -Olive Garden, free entree -On the Border, free meal -Orange Leaf, free fro-yo -Outback Steakhouse, free Bloomin’ Onion & drink

-PDQ Tenders, free 3pc tenders or sandwich -Pinnacle Entertainment, free buffet -Ponderosa Steakhouse, free buffet -Primanti Bros, free sandwich -Red Lobster, free app/dessert -Red Robin, free Red’s Tavern Double -Rock & Brews, free sandwich -Sammy’s Woodfired Pizza & Grill, free garlic cheese bread or hummus -Sheetz, free lunch -Shoney’s, free burger -Sizzler Restaurants, free lunch -Smokey Bones Bar & Fire Grill, free meal -Spaghetti Warehouse, BOGO free entree -StarBucks, free tall coffee -Tap House Grill, free meal -Texas Roadhouse, free lunch -TGI Friday’s, free lunch -Tijuana Flats, free lunch -Tony Roma’s, free half rack Baby Back Ribs -Tubby’s Sub Shops, free sub -Twin Peaks, free menu item -Uno Chicago Grill, free pizza or entree -Village Inn, free breakfast -Wienerschnitzel, free hot dog and small drink -54th Street Grill, free meal

And if there’s anything we can do for you, give us a shout 24/7 at support@expressirsforms.com or Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at (704) 839-2270.

Dare to Care with ExpressACAForms

ExpressACAForms is all about the Affordable Care Act, and, while it may not seem like it, the Affordable Care Act is all about caring. Okay, that may seem like a bit of a reach considering all of the rules and regulations you have to follow because of it now, but the idea behind it is to make sure you’re getting the health CARE you need.

But no matter how great your insurance provider, they can only do so much. Most of the responsibility for taking care of yourself falls on no one else but you. And, hey, sometimes that’s hard. Potato chips taste a lot better than kale, and to quote Anne Perkins: “Jogging is the worst! I mean, I know it keeps you healthy but, god, at what cost?!”

But at ExpressACAForms, we do care about your well-being. It’s why our unofficial motto is Dare to Care, and why we’re starting a blog series called “Dare to Self-Care,” which will feature simple ways to take care of yourself that don’t include jogging. After all, if you haven’t got your health, you haven’t got anything, not even multiple full-time employees that are counting on you to file those ACA forms.

We’re starting with the foundation for this week’s self-care feature: foot massages. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, your feet have a huge impact on your well-being. A very large number of nerve endings are concentrated on the soles, and opposite ends of those same nerves are spread in all other parts of the body. You can think of your feet as a map of your whole body; when you massage them, you’re also stimulating other areas of your body:

Massages in general have extremely positive effects on overall health: they can improve metabolism, stimulate sweat glands, mobilize fat, improve blood flow, eliminate lactic acid, and facilitate digestion. Massaging and applying pressure on specific points of the feet can ease symptoms of various ailments and help improve and maintain healthy organ function.

It is recommended to massage your feet by firmly pressing certain points for a few seconds every night before going to bed for about 10-15 minutes, which is a pretty easy way to get a little healthier. Unlike that knot in the middle of your back, you can actually reach your feet yourself (although, it never hurts when someone else massages them). And unlike jogging, you can massage your feet while sitting and watching late night TV.

Stay tuned for more Dare to Self-Care blogs and, in the meantime, if you need an help or assistance with your ACA forms, give us a shout! We’re available Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. by live chat and by phone at (704) 839-2270; and we’re available 24/7 at support@expressirsforms.com.

Benefits of E-filing Form 1095-B/1095-C with ExpressACAForms.com

No one likes hearing they have to do something. Yes, there are some things that we all have to do (the phrase “death and taxes” comes to mind), but isn’t it nice when you have an incentive to do those things?

The IRS doesn’t usually give you much of an incentive when they tell you that you have to do something, they’re more the my-way-or-the-highway types. And now you have to do these Affordable Care Act information returns, putting in time and effort, and for what? To stay within the lines of the law? To NOT pay a $3 million fine? Yeah, okay, avoiding fines isn’t a bad incentive, but it’s not a super fun one either.

Enter ExpressACAForms, your bright light at the end of the ACA reporting tunnel, your end-of-the-year bonus check, your treat for drooling when Pavlov rings the bell. Take a look at some of the great incentives you have for e-filing your Affordable Care Act information returns with ExpressACAForms.com:

Save Time
With ExpressACAForms, a seamless, sophisticated, electronic process is integrated into information filing that is much faster than paper filing. Transmit your form to the IRS and print and mail copies to your recipients all from one service with one website.

Save Money
Yeah, you might find someplace else offering similar service, but rest assured it won’t be at this premier level with the most tax-savvy, comprehensive assistance that you’ve ever experienced. We’re even offering filing of the 2014 tax year for free! You won’t find our value-based pricing anywhere else.

Feel Smarter
Nothing will make you feel like you’re reading Greek like an IRS form (unless, that is, you’re actually reading something written in Greek). ExpressACAForms doesn’t just slap a scanned version of an ACA form on your screen and have you fill in the blanks. We’ve screened every page, section, and question of the original forms and present them as basic “Yes or No” questions. And before the IRS sees anything, our built-in form review will let you know about any mistakes or errors so you can correct them before your final transmission. By the end of your first use, you’ll truly feel like an ExpressACAForms expert.

Stay Safe
ExpressACAForms works closely with the IRS to offer you the utmost in security, simplicity, and accuracy with your e-filing experience. Our site is encrypted, McAfee secure certified, and protected by SSL (Secured Socket Layer). Your information goes directly to the IRS and no one else.

Make Some Friends
Okay, so we can’t promise this friendship won’t be a little one-sided, but when you need us, we’ll be there! ExpressACAForms sports the best in support and technical teams, working hard gaining the most experience within the industry. Our live assistants, based in Rock Hill, South Carolina, know all the ins and outs of the e-filing process. Whenever you need help, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email! We can be reached by phone at (704) 839-2270 and live chat at www.expressacaforms.com, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST, and by email 24/7 at support@expressirsforms.com.