The IRS has released the 2017 Draft Instructions for Forms 1094-B, 1095-B, 1094-C, and 1095-C to help employers and insurers prepare for calendar year 2017 Affordable Care Act (ACA) information reporting. Employers and insurers will use the final versions of the forms and instructions in early 2018 to report on health coverage offered (or not offered) in the 2017 calendar year.

Key Proposed Changes for 2017 Reporting
The 2017 draft instructions differ from the 2016 instructions as follows:

• Draft Instructions to Forms 1094-C and 1095-C: The draft instructions have been revised to remove discussion of section 4980H transition relief, as none is available for 2017.
• Draft Instructions to Forms 1094-B and 1095-B: While no significant form revisions are listed in the draft instructions, the “additional information” section refers reporting entities to regulations relating to the requirement to solicit the TIN of each covered individual (including available penalty relief for failure to report a TIN if certain regulatory requirements are satisfied).

Who is Required to Report?
The ACA requires insurers, self-insuring employers, and other parties that provide minimum essential health coverage to annually report information on this coverage to the IRS and to covered individuals using Forms 1094-B and 1095-B.

Applicable large employers (generally those with 50 or more full-time employees, including full-time equivalents) are also required to report information to the IRS and to their employees about their compliance with the ACA’s employer shared responsibility (“pay or play”) provisions and the health care coverage they have offered (or have not offered) using Forms 1094-C and 1095-C.

Note: Self-insured employers that are applicable large employers must combine reporting under both information reporting provisions by filing a single information return, Form 1095-C, and transmittal, Form 1094-C.