The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has released final 2017 versions of the Form 1094 and 1095 series.  These are the forms and instructions that health insurers, self-funded health employer plans, and applicable large employers will use in early 2018 to report coverage details to employees and the IRS for the 2017 tax year.

Employers and issuers will need to provide employees and covered individuals with their Forms 1095 B or C by January 31, 2018, which is a whole month earlier than last year.  Applicable large employers and self-funded plans need to make sure their forms 1094 B or C are to the IRS by February 28, 2018, if they are filing on paper. Electronically filed forms are due to the IRS by April 2, 2018, but businesses can get an automatic 30-day extension for either paper or electronic form submission by filing Form 8809.

The only other significant change is that most transition relief will be eliminated in 2017.  In 2015 and 2016, some businesses qualified for transition relief that protected them from penalties if the employer failed to offer minimum essential coverage to all applicable employees or affordable minimum value coverage for parts of the year.  That protection has been fully phased out.

Kistler Tiffany Benefits will be recording presentations addressing the 2017 1094-C/B and 1095-C/B reporting requirements in the coming days.  In the meantime, if you have questions pertaining to the reporting requirements, please do not hesitate to contact Kistler Tiffany Benefits.