Get to Know the ACA Penalties

The Affordable Care Act penalties are no joke.

And while there’s been a lot of talk about the ACA going away, it won’t be going away in time to avoid IRS penalties if you don’t file.

So it’s best to arm yourselves with some knowledge about these ACA penalties and how you can avoid them!





Information Reporting Penalties
That’s the official name of the penalties you’d incur from the IRS if you didn’t file. And, boy, are they every bit as impending as they sound:

• The penalty for failing to file a Form 1095-B or 1095-C with the IRS is $260 per missing form, not to exceed $3,193,000 in a calendar year.
• The penalty for failing to provide a Form 1095-B or 1095-C to your recipients is $260 per missing form, again, not to exceed $3,193,000 in a calendar year.

And don’t forget, the IRS has this in its rules and regulations for the ACA Forms:

“Special rules apply that increase the per-return and per-statement and total penalties with no maximum limitations if there is intentional disregard of the requirement to file the returns and furnish recipient statements.”

In other words, if you intentionally don’t file, the IRS is going to try to come for a lot more than $3 mil.

But on the Flip Side
Your penalties may be waived if you can prove to the IRS that failure to file was due to reasonable cause (think life-or-death, emergency type situation) and not willful neglect.

You also have ExpressACAForms to help make sure you get those forms filed on time! This is especially important because those penalty fees start going up the longer you wait to file after the deadline.

Just head on over to our website or contact our friendly support team to get started and see how ExpressACAForms can help you avoid ACA penalties. We’re available to help by phone (704-954-8420) and live chat Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. EST and available 24/7 at support@ExpressACAForms.com!

Read More »

ACA Reporting Penalties

When the Affordable Care Act (more commonly known as ObamaCare) was passed, the IRS updated its Internal Revenue Code (IRC) to include new tax documents that keep health care insurance providers in good standing with the ACA’s new legal and tax requirements.

In order to ensure that every taxpayer receives at least the minimum basic coverage of health care insurance each year, health insurance providers and employers now need to report the coverage they offer to the IRS. Health insurance providers need to report this on Form 1095-B, and certain larger employers* need to report this on Form 1095-C. It’s optional to go ahead and file these forms for the 2014 tax year, but they will be required in 2016 for the 2015 tax year.

New laws inevitably bring up questions, and a lot of people have wondered if there’s a penalty for filing 1095 forms late or not at all. Well, first of all, if you don’t do something required by the IRS and federal government, it’s safe to assume that there’s going to be a penalty. For 2015 reporting, however, the IRS will not impose penalties on a filer for reporting incorrect or incomplete information IF that filer can show that he or she made good faith efforts to comply with the information reporting requirements for 2015.

So what are the big, bad penalties? Here they are, straight from the IRS’s mouth:

• The penalty for failure to file an information return is generally $250 for each missing return. The total penalty for failing to file during a calendar year cannot exceed $3,000,000.
• The penalty for failure to provide a correct payee statement is $250 for each missing or incorrect statement, with the total penalty for a calendar year not to exceed $3,000,00.

Special rules apply that can increase these penalties if there is intentional disregard of the requirement to furnish a payee statement. So how about you avoid these penalties altogether? By making sure you get things filed correctly and on time with ExpressACAForms!

If you have any other questions about the new ACA requirements or filing process, feel free to contact our friendly support team of experts located in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Give us a call Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. EST at (704) 839-2270 or email us 24/7 at support@expressirsforms.com.

*Applicable Large Employers (ALEs) are employers with at least 50 full-time employees during a tax year.

Read More »