The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) today extended the deadline for employers and others to provide health care coverage information to their employees. The deadline is now March 2, 2020, up from Jan. 31.
The IRS routinely extends the deadline each year since supplying the forms became a requirement under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA, usually referred to as the Affordable Care Act, ACA, or Obamacare) in 2010 (effective 2014).
The ACA requires health insurance issuers, self-insuring employers, government agencies, and other providers of minimum essential coverage to file and furnish annual information returns and statements regarding coverage provided. Section 6056 requires applicable large employers (generally those with 50 or more full-time employees, including full-time equivalent employees, in the previous year) to file and furnish annual information returns and statements relating to the health insurance, if any, that the employer offers to its full-time employees.
Employers are required to prepare and transmit annually either Form 1095-B, Health Coverage, or Form 1095-C, Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage, which are used to satisfy the requirement to provide the statements. (Form 1095-B is used by employers with self-funded insurance programs.)
At the same time, the IRS kept intact the filing deadlines for Form 1094-B, Transmittal of Health Coverage Information Returns, and Form 1094-C, Transmittal of Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage Information Returns. Those returns must be filed with the IRS by Feb. 28, 2020, if not filing electronically, and by March 31, 2020, if filing electronically.