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ACA Companion - ACA Employer Tab

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  • Setup
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  • Eligibility

Overview

Updated 09/07/2022

 

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The ACA employer setup tab defines an ACA employer including corporate address, Federal Identification Number (FEIN), and the specific conditions the employer requires of the employee to be eligible for employer-paid health insurance.

The ACA employer setup tab is organized into two sub-tabs - General and Eligibility. The General tab is used to identify basic company information such as FEIN, address, supplier details, ALE membership, and contact person information. The Eligibility tab is used to define measurement and stability periods that determine when an employee is eligible for employer-paid health insurance. 

The "General" portion of the ACA employer setup tab collect the information needed for the 1094-C. Likewise, the Eligibility portion of the ACA employer setup tab replaces configuration that was formerly provided by Config Options setup. 

Click on the links below for more information:

 

General Section
Eligibility Section

 

 

General Section

 

Field Description
Add an employer link Click the link to add a new employer to the Current employers list. 
Current employers list

A list of defined employers and any associated Applicable Large Employers (ALE). If the employer has made one or more insurance offers, the employer cannot be deleted. 
Employer name field The name of the employer that is the ALE. This should reflect the name of this employer as registered with the IRS. An applicable large employer (ALE) is an employer with an average of at least 50 full-time employees.  An applicable large employer may be a single entity or may consist of a group of related entities.  If there is a group of related entities, these are referred to as ALE members.
Identification number field The ALE Member's federal Employer Identification Number (EIN). A 9-digit number including the dash: 12-3456789
Street address field The employer's street address.
City field The city where the employer is located.
State drop-down menu The state where the employer is located.
Country drop-down menu The country where the employer is located.
ZIP field The ZIP or postal code of the address where the employer is located.
Suppliers list A list of selectable suppliers designated in the core application. Any suppliers associated to an employer in the core application are available for selection here. Place a check mark next to those suppliers that are to be included with this ACA employer. 
Was this employer a member of an ALE group during the year? radio buttons

Select "No" If the ACA employer was not a member of an ALE group during the year. 

 

Select "Yes" if the ACA employer was a member of an ALE group during the year. If "Yes" is selected when the user was asked "Was this employer a member of an ALE group during the year?", additional fields become available. 

 

Field Description
Group name The ALE group to which the employer belongs or belonged to at any time of the past year.
Start MM The month in which the membership in that ALE group started.
Start YY The year in which the membership in that ALE group started.
End MM If the membership ended in the past year, this menu option is used to indicate the month in which the membership in that ALE group ended. 
End YY If the membership ended, this menu option is used to indicate the year in which the membership in that ALE group ended. 

Delete button

 Click the Delete button to remove a Group name row to which the ACA employer belonged. 

ALE Group Add button

If an ALE was a member of only one ALE group in the past year, the Add button is not needed. The information for that one ALE group will be saved when the Update employer button is clicked at the end of this page's editing.

 

If an additional membership occurred during the past year, that membership can be added by clicking the Add button. A row of fields becomes available below the existing ALE rows.

 

An employer cannot have multiple memberships at the same time. Therefore, a range of dates may not be overlapped. 
Indicate Certifications of Eligibility 

If the ALE Member meets the eligibility requirements and is using one of the Offer Methods and/or one of the forms of Transition Relief indicated, it must check each applicable box.

Selection (check all that apply) Description
Qualifying Offer Method

Check this box if the ALE Member is eligible to use and is using the Qualifying Offer Method to report the information on Form 1095-C for one or more full-time employees. To determine if this option applies to your employer, see the IRS instructions for Line 22 of the 1094-C here

To be eligible to use the Qualifying Offer Method, the ALE Member must certify that it made a Qualifying Offer to one or more of its full-time employees for all months during the year in which the employee was a full-time employee for whom an employer shared responsibility payment could apply.

An ALE Member is not required to use the Qualifying Offer Method.
Section 4980H Transition Relief

Check this box if the ALE Member is eligible for section 4980H Transition Relief for one or more months of the 2016 calendar year under either:

  • 2015 Plan Year Section 4980H Transition Relief for ALEs with Fewer Than 100 Full-Time Employees, Including Full-Time Equivalent Employees (50-99 Transition Relief), or

  • 2015 Plan Year Transition Relief for Calculation of Assessable Payments Under Section 4980H(a) for ALEs with 100 or More Full-Time Employees, Including Full-Time Equivalent Employees (100 or More Transition Relief).

To determine if this option applies to your employer, see the IRS instructions for Line 22 of the 1094-C here

If the Section 4980H Transition Relief option is selected, additional drop-down menus become available.

Select "A" for any applicable months of relief in which the ACA employer had 50 - 99 full-time equivalent employees.

Select "B" for any applicable months of relief in which the ACA employer had 100 or more full-time equivalent employees. 
98% Offer Method

Check this box if the employer is eligible for and is using the 98% Offer Method. To be eligible to use the 98% Offer Method, an employer must certify that, taking into account all months during which the individuals were employees of the ALE Member and were not in a Limited Non-Assessment Period, the ALE Member offered, affordable health coverage providing minimum value to at least 98% of its employees for whom it is filing a Form 1095-C employee statement, and offered minimum essential coverage to those employees’ dependents. To determine if this option applies to your employer, see the IRS instructions for Line 22 of the 1094-C here
Contact person's full name Enter the name of the person to contact who is responsible for answering any questions from the IRS regarding the filing of or information reported on Form 1094-C.
Contact phone number

Enter the telephone number of the person to contact who is responsible for answering any questions from the IRS regarding the filing of or information reported on Forms 1095-C and 1094-C.

  • Validation of the phone number restricts invalid entries, such as too many digits, or other inaccuracies that can cause errors in report preparation and generation for Greenshades.
  • The validation occurs when the Update button is clicked.
  • When validation on the phone number fails, the message "* A valid entry is required" is displayed.

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  • The basic format the field expects is "123-456-7890[x123]" (parentheses for the area code can be used; using an extension is optional)
Contact email  

Add button

Located at the bottom of the page, the Add button is used to add a new ACA employer. 

Edit button

 If an existing ACA employer is selected, the Edit employer button becomes available. Once selected, the Edit employer button is replaced with an Update employer button used to save editing changes. 

Update button

 Once changes are complete when adding a new ACA employer or editing an existing one, the Update employer button is clicked to save the updated data. 

Cancel button

 Click the Cancel button instead of the Update employer button to revert the window to its last saved state.

 

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Eligibility Section

 

 

Field  Description
Add an employer link

Click the link to add a new employer to the Current employers list. 
Initial measurement period measurement length field

Select the number of months that a new-hire's ACA-eligible hours are initially tracked to determine health insurance eligibility. This setting must be between 3-12 months.

 

An Initial Measurement Period is used to track the hours of a new-hire who is not reasonably expected to work at least 130 hours per month. This setting is required for the Avionté system to determine which employees are ACA full-time, and therefore, who requires a 1095-C form at time of reporting. Each new-hire has their own start date-specific Initial measurement period. The Initial Measurement Period has different start and end dates than the employer's Standard Measurement Period, but the duration is the same.
Initial measurement period start radio buttons

Select the date on which the Initial Measurement Period begins. Two options are available.

  • Assignment Start Date - Measurement begins on the date the employee starts working (Assignment Start Date). 
  • First day of following month - Initial Measurement Period starts for an employee on the first of the month following the beginning of his or her first assignment.
    • As an exception to the First day of the following month option, if the employee begins their assignment on the first of the month, the IMP begins on that date. Assignments beginning on the 2nd or later initiate an IMP on the 1st of the following month. 
Admin period days (initial) field

Select the duration (in days) of the employer's admin period. This number must be between 0-90 days.

 

The Admin Period, sometimes referred to as "waiting period," is a length of time that passes from the end of an employee's Standard or Initial Measurement Period until they must be offered healthcare. An employer uses the Admin Period to administer health plans to employees based on the measurement period. An admin period may be reduced or extended (max 90 days) based on config option ModifiedStabilityStartDay.
Day of month for initial stability period start radio buttons

Select the date on which the employee's stability period will begin. The Initial Stability Period begins after the Initial Measurement Period, so coverage will start on different dates depending on each employee’s hire date.

A Stability Period is the period during which employees who worked the necessary amount of hours during the measurement period, who were offered coverage, and who enrolled in coverage, will actually be covered.
Standard measurement period measurement length field

Select the length (in months) of the company's Standard Measurement Period. This setting must be between 3-12 months.

A Standard Measurement Period is a designated period used to ascertain whether an ongoing employee (rather than newly-hired) or seasonal employee is full time and/or eligible for health care coverage. This setting is required for the Avionté system to determine which employees are ACA full-time, and therefore, who requires a 1095-C form at time of reporting. An employer defines the Standard Measurement Period, which may be no less than three or no more than 12 consecutive months. An employer may have standard measurement periods that differ in length or in starting and ending dates for:

  • Collectively bargained and non-collectively bargained employees.
  • Salaried and hourly employees.
  • Employees of different entities.
  • Employees located in different states.
Standard measurement period start day of the month drop-down menus Select the day and the month on which the Standard Measurement Period begins. 
Standard stability period start day of month

The Standard Stability Period begins on a fixed date each year. 

Select the day and the month on which the Standard stability period begins. To determine this date, take the Standard measurement period start day of the month setting, add the Standard measurement period measurement length, then add the employer's standard Admin period length. The date reached should be input as the Standard stability period start day.

A Stability Period is the period during which employees who worked the necessary amount of hours during the measurement period, who were offered coverage, and who enrolled in coverage, will actually be covered.

Update button

 Click the Update button to update changes made to the Eligibility section of the ACA employer tab.

Cancel button

 Click the Cancel button to cancel edits before they're updated.

 

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