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Affordable Care Act

This chapter contains the following topic:

Affordable Care Act License

Introduction to the Affordable Care Act

Enter ACA Groups

Generate Employee's ACA Information

Affordable Care Act

ACA Reports

Validate 1095-C/1094-C Information

Report 1095-C/1094-C Information

Procedures for 1095-C and 1094-C Electronic Filing

ACA File and Initialization Utilities

Affordable Care Act License

Passport’s Affordable Care Act Management ACAMS (ACAMS) facilitating internal reporting and mandatory filings for the year 2016

The ACAMS License

PROPRIETARY RIGHTS NOTICE Passport Software, Inc. (“Passport” or “PSI”) has taken reasonable preventive measures to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this manual. However, Passport makes no warranties or representations with respect to the information contained herein; and Passport shall not be held liable for damages resulting from any errors or omissions herein or from the use of the information contained in this manual.

PROPRIETARY RIGHTS NOTICE: No part of this material may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, or otherwise, including photocopying and recording or in connection with any information storage or retrieval system, without express written permission from Passport Software, Inc.

Copyright Passport Software, Inc. ©. All Rights Reserved. PBS, RealWorld, and EZ Convert are trademarks or registered trademarks of Passport Software, Inc. SQL Server Express 2008 R2 and Windows, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2012 are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in The United States and other countries. AcuCOBOL-GT and Acu4GL are registered trademarks of Micro Focus (IP) Limited. Additional names of companies or products may be the intellectual property of their respective owners.

LICENSE AGREEMENT

1. License Grant

Passport Software, Inc. (Passport) hereby grants to Licensee and Licensee accepts a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensableright to use the enclosed Affordable Care Act Management Software (hereinafter referred to as the ACAMS) with the rights, terms, and conditions as detailed in this License Agreement:

a. You may install and use the ACAMS on a single computer system or single computer file server for your own internal business purposes provided you (the Licensee) do not exceed the number of concurrent users licensed by Passport to access the ACAMS. If Licensee wishes to increase the number of licensed concurrent users, Licensee must contact Licensee's Passport Partner (your Passport Software supplier) or Passport directly.

b. You may make backup copies of the ACAMS as required for your own internal business purposes provided that you reproduce all copyright notices and other proprietary notices on each copy made. Backup copies may be used at any time to re-install the enclosed ACAMS in the event of loss, destruction, or other malfunction of the ACAMS.

c. You may only transfer the ACAMS and this license to a successor to the whole of Licensee's business upon obtaining first the written permission of Passport Software, Inc., provided the successor agrees to accept the terms and conditions of this agreement. In order to transfer the ACAMS, you must first report to Passport and gain its written permission for the successor user of the ACAMS. You may not retain any copies of the ACAMS yourself once you have transferred it. No other transfers of the ACAMS are permitted without the prior written consent of Passport Software, Inc.

d. Licensee may not rent or lease or in any way provide, permit, or otherwise grant the use of the ACAMS to someone else or some other entity.

e. The Affordable Care Act Management Software (referred to as the ACAMS) is authorized for use by Federal Employer Identification Number and is licensed hereby for one or more authorized licensees. Any use of the ACAMS by or for any individual or entity other than the authorized FEIN or FEINs is expressly prohibited.

Licensee shall not export or re-export, directly or indirectly (including via remote access) the ACAMS, Documentation or other information or materials provided by Passport hereunder, to any country for which the United States or any other relevant jurisdiction requires any export license or other governmental approval at the time of export without first obtaining such license or approval from Passport. It shall be Licensee's responsibility to comply with the latest United States export regulations, and Licensee shall defend and indemnify Passport from and against any damages, fines, penalties, assessments, liabilities, costs and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees and court costs) arising out of any claim that ACAMS, Documentation, or other information or materials provided by Passport hereunder were exported or otherwise accessed, shipped or transported in violation of applicable laws and regulations. Licensee shall comply with all laws, legislation, rules, regulations, and governmental requirements with respect to the ACAMS, and the performance by Licensee of its obligations hereunder, of any jurisdiction in or from which Licensee directly or indirectly causes the ACAMS to be used or accessed. In the event that this Agreement is required to be registered with any governmental authority, Licensee shall cause such registration to be made and shall bear any expense or tax payable in respect thereof.

This limited non-exclusive license is effective for the useful life of the ACAMS. The ACAMS is designed and written to facilitate internal reporting and mandatory filings for the year 2016 and none other. This license will immediately terminate if you fail to comply with any term or condition of this Agreement. Upon termination you must destroy all copies of the ACAMS.

A subsequent year’s version of the ACAMS replaces the version of the ACAMS previously licensed. Use of a new ACAMS version terminates the license to use that part of the ACAMS replaced by the new ACAMS version. Licensee shall destroy or return to Passport all copies of any prior ACAMS version previously licensed.

EXCEPT AS STATED ABOVE, YOU MAY NOT COPY, TRANSFER, OR DISTRIBUTE THE ACAMS TO OTHERS. ANY UNAUTHORIZED COPYING, TRANSFER, DISTRIBUTION, OR USE BY AN UNATHORIZED INDIVIDUAL OR ENTITY SHALL AUTOMATICALLY TERMINATE YOUR LICENSE.

2. Passport Update Program

Passport makes available its subscription update service (Passport Update Program - PUP) to licensees of its software products. Only licensees having current and up-to-date enrollment in ACAMS PUP are permitted to install and use any updates. Contact your Passport Partner (your Passport Software supplier) or Passport directly to enroll in this program.

Updates to the ACAMS made available to Licensee shall be treated for all purposes as ACAMS under this License. Subscribers currently enrolled in Passport’s Update Program (PUP) for the Affordable Care Act Management Software will receive subsequent year’s ACAMS.

3. Passport's Proprietary Rights

The ACAMS is copyrighted by Passport Software, Inc. and some portions of the ACAMS are copyrighted by AcuCorp, Inc., a Micro Focus International PLC company. All rights reserved.

Passport and its third party licensors retain all proprietary and intellectual property rights in the ACAMS and Documentation and in any trademarks affixed to the ACAMS or the Documentation. Licensee shall not take any action inconsistent with such title and ownership. Licensee shall not alter or remove any printed or on-screen copyright, trade secret, proprietary or other legal notices contained on or in copies of any ACAMS or Documentation. LICENSEE ACKNOWLEDGES AND AGREES THAT THE ACAMS MAY CONTAIN CODE OR REQUIRE DEVICES THAT DETECT OR PREVENT UNAUTHORIZED USE OF THE ACAMS. Licensee shall notify Passport immediately in the event of unauthorized possession or use of ACAMS or Documentation.

Licensee is not permitted (a) to decompile, disassemble, reverse compile, reverse assemble, reverse translate or otherwise reverse engineer the ACAMS, (b) to use any similar means to discover the source code of the ACAMS or to discover the trade secrets in the ACAMS, or (c) to otherwise circumvent any technological measure that controls access to the ACAMS.

Updates to the ACAMS made available to Licensee through the Passport Update Programs shall be treated for all purposes as ACAMS under this License and all intellectual property rights therein shall be retained by Passport.

4. Limited Warranty and Disclaimers

Passport warrants that the CD-ROM and/or other media on which the ACAMS and User Documentation is recorded are readable by a compatible hardware system. For a period of 90 days (the Warranty Period) after the initial date of this license, if Licensee discovers any defects in the readability of the original CD-ROM and/or other media, Licensee may return it to Licensee's Passport Partner (your Passport Software supplier) or Passport for a free replacement, which is Licensee's sole and exclusive remedy in the event of such defect[s].

EXCEPT AS SPECIFICALLY PROVIDED HEREIN, THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE IS NOT ERROR-FREE AND IS BEING PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.

PASSPORT SOFTWARE, INC., ITS PROGRAM LANGUAGE SUPPLIERS AND OTHER VENDORS, HEREBY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ORAL OR WRITTEN, WITH RESPECT TO THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE, COURSE OF DEALING OR TRADE USAGE.

NO WARRANTY IS MADE REGARDING THE RESULTS OF ANY ACAMS OR SERVICES OR THAT ALL ERRORS IN THE ACAMS WILL BE CORRECTED, REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OR NATURE OF ANY CLAIM. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES, AND DO NOT ALLOW A LIMITATION ON HOW LONG ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY LASTS, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY. NO PASSPORT EMPLOYEE, SUPPLIER, OR AGENT IS AUTHORIZED TO MAKE ANY MODIFICATIONS OR ADDITIONS TO THIS WARRANTY.

THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE ACAMS IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE ACAMS PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE ENTIRE COST OF ANY NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION, AND ANY INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY COSTS, FEES, AND/OR PENALTIES ASSESSED BY OR PAYABLE TO ANY GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT OR AGENCY FOR ERRORS IN FILINGS.

IN NO EVENT WILL PASSPORT, ITS PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE SUPPLIERS AND OTHER VENDORS, DISTRIBUTORS, OR DEALERS (PASSPORT PARTNERS) BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOSS OF DATA, LOSS OF PROFITS, OR DIRECT, OR INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES RESULTING FROM ANY DEFECT IN THE ACAMS, EVEN IF THEY HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

THE FOREGOING RESTRICTIONS, DISCLAIMERS AND LIMITATIONS SHALL APPLY AND REMAIN IN FORCE EVEN IN THE EVENT OF A BREACH BY PASSPORT HEREUNDER OF A CONDITION OR FUNDAMENTAL TERM HEREUNDER, OR IN THE EVENT OF A BREACH WHICH CONSTITUTES A FUNDAMENTAL BREACH.

5. General Terms and Conditions

Nothing contained in this Agreement shall be deemed to constitute either party as the agent or representative of the other party, or both parties as joint venturers or partners for any purpose. Licensee's supplier of the ACAMS (referred to herein as a "Passport Partner") is an independent contractor in relation to Passport and is not an employee, agent or partner of Passport.

This License Agreement is governed by the laws of the State of Illinois and jurisdiction for any claim or controversy raised by Licensee against Passport Software, Inc. shall only be in the Circuit Court of Cook County, State of Illinois.

If either party commences any action or proceeding against the other party to enforce or interpret this License, the prevailing party in such action or proceeding shall be entitled to recover from the other party the actual costs, expenses and attorneys' fees (including all related costs and expenses), incurred by such prevailing party in connection with such action or proceeding and in connection with obtaining and enforcing any judgment or order thereby obtained.

This License and the rights and obligations hereunder, may not be assigned, in whole or in part by Licensee, except to a successor to the whole of Licensee's business, without the prior written consent of Passport. In the case of any permitted assignment or transfer of or under this License, this License and all of its terms and conditions shall be binding upon, and inure to the benefit of, the successors, executors, heirs, representatives, administrators and assigns of the parties hereto.

This is the complete and exclusive statement of the License between you and Passport, and this License supersedes any prior agreements or understanding, oral or written, with respect to the subject matter of this License.

If you have any questions regarding this License, you may contact Passport at 847-729-7900 or email to psi@pass-port.com.

Introduction to the Affordable Care Act

Passport provides a means of entering, tracking and reporting Affordable Care Act (ACA) information.

Employers with 50 or more full-time equivalent (FTE) employees must file their ACA information with the IRS. If this applies to your company the information in this chapter is relevant to you.

In order to use the PBS ACA Management and Reporting features and functions, you must have a PBS license specific to ACA. If you do not, this chapter does not apply to you. To acquire a license, contact your PBS provider about PBS ACA Management and Reporting. Access to specific ACA features is controlled by your license. This is explained more fully in the license levels of PBS ACA Management and Reporting section below.

The Affordable Care Act, ACA for short, is officially called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Sometimes referred to as ObamaCare, ACA reforms the health insurance industry and the American health care system as a whole. The law contains provisions that give Americans more rights and protections and expand access to affordable quality health care to many uninsured employees.

The Affordable Care Act includes a variety of provisions that reform the insurance market and encourage small businesses to offer health insurance. Depending on whether you are an employer with fewer than 50 full-time equivalent employees, 50 to 99 employees, 100 to 249 employees, or an employer with 250 or more employees, different requirements of the Affordable Care Act may apply to you.

If you are unsure of the number of your full-time employees and full-time equivalent employees, the Monthly Labor Summary report is provided to help you determine this. Run it for a Payroll year to get monthly totals.

To determine how the Affordable Care Act applies to your business, see https://www.irs.gov/Affordable-Care-Act/Employers. We highly encourage you to fully research and understand the ACA rules before you start using the PBS ACA features and functions. A misunderstanding of the rules could result in significant IRS penalties. If you have more than 50 full-time plus full-time equivalent employees you are required to enter ACA data and submit the 1095-C and 1094-C forms to the IRS. PBS Payroll, with the PBS ACA Management and Reporting features, can produce these forms. You may be required to submit ACA information via electronic media.

PBS ACA Management and Reporting is also designed to report data for self-insured companies.

There are four license levels of PBS ACA Management and Reporting

The PBS ACA Management and Reporting solution offers several levels of functionality based on the requirements of ACA for Applicable Large Employers (ALEs), which are the following:

Company size of 50 to 249 full-time employees.

Includes printing of 1094-C and 1095-C validation copies and management reports.

You may print the final 1095-C and 1094-C forms. Order your ACA forms from Trainor Business Forms at http://trainorprintingandpromotions.com/. You may also call 800.356.7925. Landscape forms allow more room than portrait forms for printing the Name of ALE Member. You do not have to order Transmittal Form Page 3 (1094-C). This is only for companies with common ownership. Health Coverage Continuation form are only required for employees with more than 6 covered individuals.

This license can be used with multiple company IDs as long as each company has the same FEIN.

An employee can be paid in multiple companies, however, you must designate a reporting company.

Company size of 250 or more full-time employees.

Includes printing of 1094-C and 1095-C validation draft forms and management reports.

Provides Magnetic Media electronic filing, including the test submission files required for the TCC application.

This license can be used with multiple company IDs as long as each company has the same FEIN.

An employee can be paid in multiple PBS companies, however, you must designate a reporting company.

Allows for an aggregated ALE group of multiple PBS company IDs. This provides for multiple companies with multiple FEINs under common ownership.

Includes printing of 1094-C and 1095-C validation draft forms and management reports.

Provides 1094-C and 1095-C Magnetic Media electronic filing with the reporting of members of an aggregated ALE group, including the test submission files required for the TCC application.

Handles data consolidation for multiple EINs.

For Accounting firms and Payroll Service Providers who assist clients with their accounting and end of year State and Federal reporting requirements.

Handles single or multi-company requirements, printing and electronic filing of 1094-C and 1095-C federal forms and includes management reports.

Note: You must license the applicable Essentials / Corporate / Enterprise Edition on a per client basis.

Affordable Care Act Set Up

If you are new to PBS Payroll, you must follow the Setting Up Payroll instructions in the Getting Started chapter. Once this is done and once you have an ACA license, you may start the ACA setup.

The steps for setting up and using PBS ACA Management and Reporting include:

If you have the essentials license you may purchase the final forms from Trainor Business Forms at http://trainorprintingandpromotions.com/. You may also call 800.356.7925. Landscape forms allow more room than portrait forms for printing the Name of ALE Member and other fields. You do not have to order Transmittal Form Page 3 (1094-C). This is only for companies with common ownership. Health Coverage Continuation form are only required for employees with more than 6 covered individuals.

Enter ACA Groups

An Affordable Care Act (ACA) group is used to default a Safe Harbor method, define the Standard measurement period and define the Initial measurement period.

An ACA group is assigned to each employee ACA record. You must enter at least one ACA group before you can start entering employee ACA information.

Your company may choose to use a single group with the longest periods allowed by the ACA, which are the default group settings. However, you may find it advantageous to use multiple groups and your own schedules. The ACA rules permit this as long as the criteria are “reasonable"; such as employment type, geographic location, etc.

Select

Enter ACA groups from the Affordable care act menu. The following screen displays:

ACA Groups List Box

The list box displays up to 6 existing ACA groups at a time. You may sort the ACA groups by Group ID in ascending or descending order. Only columns with red labels may be sorted. To select a field or change the sort order, click on the column name or the arrow to the right of the column name or use the View options.

To locate an ACA group record, start typing the Group ID. You may also use the up/down arrows, Page up, Page down, Home and End keys to locate an ACA group record. The <F1> and <SF1> keys function the same as the up/down arrow keys.

ACA group records that display in the list box are available for changes or deletion. The fields for the selected ACA group record display in the lower part of the screen.

When an ACA group record is found, you may select the <Enter> key or Edit button to start editing.

ACA Group Buttons

You may select a button or keyboard equivalent for adding, editing, or deleting an ACA group. Here is a list of the functions for each button:

Menu

The menu at the top of the screen has various selections. The File, Tools, View and Help menu selections are standard on every screen. The Print menu selection is unique to this screen and has a sub-menu of Edit list. Selecting Edit list prints the ACA groups.

Character Mode

Enter the following fields:

Group ID

Enter the Group ID.

Group description

This field is not required, but allows you to enter a helpful text description of each Group. For example, “Ohio union employees”.

Safe Harbor method used

A Safe Harbor is an IRS approved method of calculating income and is used to ensure that health coverage is affordable. For each group, you will need to determine the affordability of insurance, based on employee W-2 wages, hourly Rate of pay, or Federal poverty level. Here is an explanation of the calculation of each:

* Affordability of each of these calculations is based on the Control information ACA Affordability standard percentage field. The more income, the more the employee can afford.

The percentage, monthly hours and poverty level amounts are entered in Control information as they are subject to change yearly.

See the IRS regulations for a full explanation of each method.

After running the ACA Insurance report and Safe harbor comparison report, you may need to adjust this field.

Tips to Maximize Income by Safe Harbor Method

The Federal Poverty Level safe harbor, as set in the Control information Federal poverty level field, is virtually irrelevant since even minimum wage (where you can use the Rate of Pay safe harbor) is higher than that threshold in most states. If we ignore Federal Poverty Level, you are left with this question:

Do you expect the average hours of a full time employee Group to dip below 130 hours per month?

If your employees work 130+, use the W-2 Wage safe harbor. If they work below 130, use the Rate of Pay. The graph below represents this:

As pictured below, there is a window where it is possible for the Federal Poverty Level safe harbor to be advantageous, but it is extremely narrow. For 21 states, minimum wage is between $7.25 and $7.55 per hour. For employees at that minimum pay level who also work less than 135.4 hours / month, the Federal Poverty Level safe harbor may benefit the company.

Employee default monthly contribution

Enter the contribution amount for minimum self-only coverage that can be used as the default when entering an employee's ACA record.

On the Insurance report this amount, if used for the employee ACA record, is compared to the employee's income to determine affordability.

Health plan start month

For this group, enter the month your insurance health plan starts. For example, for January enter 01, for November enter 10 and so on. This prints on Part II of the 1095-C form.

Total monthly insurance premium

Enter the premium amount offered for this group. This amount should not include any additional insurance amount paid for the employee's spouse and dependents. It is not a required field and is only used for analysis on the Insurance report. See Insurance Report.

Standard measurement period (SMP)

An employee is measured in continuous cycles, starting with the first complete cycle after the employee's hire date.

Hint—With the fields in this section, if you enter longer periods it requires less maintenance and attention by the human resources staff.

First stability period start date

It is generally most convenient to begin your ACA Stability period on the first of the year, which typically coincides with insurance enrollment. You may select any month, but it must always begin on the first of the month.

Stability period length

The stability period must be between 3 and 12 months and at least as long as the measurement period.

Administrative period length

The administrative period must be between 1 and 3 months, but the total combined length of the administrative period plus the measurement period cannot be greater than 13 months.

Measurement period length

The measurement period must be between 3 and 12 months, but no longer than the stability period. Additionally, the total combined length of the administrative period plus the measurement period cannot be greater than 13 months.

Initial measurement period (IMP)

A new employee begins an IMP the first day of the first complete month worked. The employee completes an entire cycle but commonly begin their first SMP before the IMP stability period ends. When that IMP stability period ends, the employee rolls into the concurrent SMP phase and measurements are counted from its initial start date.

To determine which employees are in the initial measurement period run the Initial Measurement Period Report.

If an employee is intended to be full-time the IMP is not required. See regulations for clarification on when to offer insurance. See https://www.healthcare.gov/small-businesses/other-aca-information-for-business/

Stability period length

The stability period must be between 3 and 12 months and at least as long as the measurement period.

Administrative period length

The administrative period must be between 1 and 3 months, but the total combined length of the administrative period plus the measurement period cannot be greater than 13 months.

Measurement period length

The measurement period must be between 3 and 12 months, but no longer than the stability period. Additionally, the total combined length of the administrative period plus the measurement period cannot be greater than 13 months.

Generate Employee's ACA Information

Use this utility to automatically generate employee ACA information for a specific payroll year.

You must enter at least one ACA group ID before you can run this utility.

This utility will generate employee ACA information, writing each record with a specific ACA group, insurance eligible status, insurance offered status, default coverage code, health plan start month and an employee code. As this utility writes the same data for all employees you will probably have to modify at least some of the employee ACA data after running it.

It will also generate data for the ACA FT/PT status, Monthly offer of coverage codes. Employee contribution and Coverage/safe harbor codes. However, it will not generate data before the hire date and after the terminated date, if either of these occur in the selected payroll year. The month after the terminated date the utility writes IH to the Monthly offer of coverage codes and 2A to the Coverage/safe harbor codes. Before you run this utility, make sure your employee's hire and termination dates are accurate for the selected year.

As it only generates new records, it will not overwrite existing employee ACA records for the entered payroll year. After you enter new employees, you may use this utility to add new employee ACA records.

This utility only creates records for hourly or salaried employees. It will not create records for non-employees.

The utility will not generate employee ACA records for employees that:

Select

Enter ACA groups from the Affordable care act menu. The following screen displays:

Character Mode

Enter these fields:

Payroll year

Enter the Payroll year to which you want to generate employee ACA data. A Control information record must exist for the year. See ACA payroll year

Default group ID

Enter the ACA group ID you want to use when generating the employee ACA records. If there is only one ACA group ID on file the program defaults to this.

All FT employees eligible/offered insurance

Check the box if you want both the employee eligible field and offered insurance field checked in each employee ACA record.

Hourly employees status

Enter either FT or PT.

Generate each employee ACA record with either a FT (Full-time) or PT (Part-time status. If the employee's hire date is mid-year, the months before the hire date will be left blank. If the termination date is mid-year, the months after the termination date will be left blank.

If you leave this field blank, all the months for all the employee ACA records generated will be blank.

Default coverage code for FT employees

Select from the drop down list the coverage code you wish to use for each employee. The code choices are 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F, 1G, 1I, 1J or 1K. If the employee's hire date is mid-year, the months before the hire date will be 1H. If the termination date is mid-year, the months after the termination date are written with 1H.

For an explanation of each code, see the Monthly offer of coverage code field.

Standard employee contribution amount

Enter the employee contribution amount that will be written to each month that the employee worked. If the employee's hire date is mid-year, the months before the hire date will be blank. If the termination date is mid-year, the months after the termination date will be left blank.

For more information see the Monthly employee contribution field.

Coverage/safe harbor code

Enter the coverage / safe harbor code that will be written to each month that the employee worked. If the employee's hire date is mid-year, the months before the hire date will be left 2A. If the termination date is mid-year, the months after the termination date are written with 2A.

For an explanation of the codes, see the Coverage/safe harbor codes field in ACA groups.

OK or Cancel

Select OK to generate the employee ACA records and print a report or Cancel to return to the menu without generating any records.

The Generate Employee ACA Information Report prints one line per employee. Each line prints with the employee number, name, department, employee type, hire date and termination date (if any). If a record is created the line also prints Employee ACA record created. However, if the employee ACA record already exists, the report prints Employee ACA record already on file.

Enter Employee's ACA Information

Use this selection to enter data that is reported on the 1095-C Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage form and generated in the magnetic media E-file.

The employee ACA information record total is accumulated and prints the 1094-C Transmittal of Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage Information Returns form.

You must have entered at least one ACA group before you can enter employee ACA information.

An employee must have an entered hire date before you can enter ACA information for that employee. If an employee is terminated and rehired in the same year, retain the original hire date and remove the terminated date.

Verify that the employee has a valid social security number entered in Employees. If not, the employee will not be included when printing the 1095-C forms or when generating the magnetic media E-file.

If you have an Essentials or Corporate license, an employee can be paid in multiple companies, however, only one company is designated as the reporting company when printing the 1095-C forms or generating the magnetic media E-file.

In order to enter employee ACA information for a particular year, there must be a record in Control information that matches this year. See ACA payroll year

Select

Enter employees ACA info from the Affordable care act menu. The following screen displays:

Employee ACA Information List Box

The list box displays up to 6 existing ACA records at a time. You may sort the ACA records by employee number, payroll year or group all in ascending or descending order. Only columns with red labels may be sorted. To select a field or change the sort order, click on the column name or the arrow to the right of the column name or use the View options.

To locate an employee ACA record, start typing an employee number, year or group, depending on which sort field is selected. You may also use the up/down arrows, Page up, Page down, Home and End keys to locate an employee ACA record. The <F1> and <SF1> keys function the same as the up/down arrow keys.

Employee ACA records that display in the list box are available for changes. The fields for the selected employee ACA record display in the lower part of the screen.

When an employee ACA record is found, you may select the <Enter> key or Edit button to start editing.

Employee ACA Information Buttons

You may select a button or keyboard equivalent for adding or editing an employee ACA record. Here is a list of the functions for each button:

The menu at the top of the screen has various selections. The File, Tools, View and Help options are standard on every screen. The Print menu has an Edit list selection, unique to this screen.

Character Mode

Using character mode, field 9 Coverage/safe harbor codes and field 10 Employee contribution are reversed as compared to graphical mode.

Enter the following fields:

Employee

Enter the employee number. You may select the lookup to find the employee. You may also modify or add new employees by accessing the employees maintenance screen from the lookup when you select the Employees button.

After you enter the employee number the employee's hire date and termination date, if terminated, display. The Salaried or Hourly pay type also displays.

Using character mode you have the following options:

If the employee does not have a hire date and you have permission to access the Employees menu selection, you will see a message like this:

Select Yes and the Employees windows displays with the cursor on the Hire date field. You may enter a hire date. Enter a hire date and save the change. You may then proceed with the entry of an Employee ACA info record.

If you do not want to enter a hire date you can Cancel entry from the Employees window and return to the Enter employees ACA info screen where you will have to cancel the entry.

If you do not have permission to access the Employees menu selection you will see this message:

You must ask another PBS user, who has permission to access the Employees menu selection, to enter a hire date for the employee. Then you may enter the employee ACA record.

Linux Telnet Mode

When using PBS in Linux Telnet, if a hire date is missing, you must enter it using the Employees menu selection. Telnet does not allow opening a second window.

Payroll year

Enter the payroll year. This defaults to the current year. A Control information Affordable Care Act record must exist for the year. See ACA payroll year in Control information.

Reporting company ID

If an employee works in more than one company, has an employee record for each, and each company has the same EIN, enter the company number for reporting the ACA information. You must enter the number in each company.

Insurance eligible

This is the insurance eligibility status of the employee. The ACA Insurance Report and Elig. and Ins. offerd. report will use it to help you monitor ACA compliance for all employees.

Insurance offered

This is the current offered insurance status of the employee. The ACA Insurance Report and Elig. and Ins. offerd. report will use this setting to help you monitor ACA compliance for all employees.

The Offer of coverage notice from Control information, is printed on the employee's graphical check stub and graphical direct deposit mailer if the employee has an Employee ACA record for the current year and this Insurance offered field is checked.

Employee code

When counting and determining full-time employees, the Affordable Care Act allows exemptions for company owners, shareholders, or Seasonal Employees. Select from the codes either Owner, Family, Shareholder, or Seasonal as appropriate. Use Regular for employees who do not fit into any of the above.

In character mode, enter either F = Family, H = Shareholder, O = Owner, R = Regular or S = Seasonal.

ACA Group

Choose an ACA group code as entered in the Enter ACA groups menu menu selection. If only one group has been entered this field defaults to that group.

If an ACA group description has been entered for the group, the description displays to the right of the code.

You have the following options:

Health plan start month

Enter the health plan start month. Enter 01 through 09 or 10, 11 or 12. The numbers represent 01 = January, 02 = February, 03 = March, 04 = April, 05 = May, 06 = June, 07 = July, 08 = August, 09 = September, 10 = October, 11 = November and 12 = December.

ACA FT/PT status

Based on the ACA settings entered in the Control information, for each month, enter the employee as full time (FT), part-time (PT) or leave blank for not employed. After completing one or more monthly entries, use the <F1> key to repeat that entry for each of the remaining months for the year.

If your company self-insures and a part-time employee is covered, you must identify that employee as “FT” for one month of their Employee ACA record in order to trigger printing a 1095-C which provides the required Covered Individual information.

Monthly offer of coverage code

This determines an employee’s coverage offer. Enter the Series 1 code of 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F, 1G, 1H, 1I, 1J or 1K. Below there is an explanation of each series 1 code. You should also refer to the IRS 1095-C instructions for Line 14 for any changes or additions to codes.

After completing one or more monthly entries, use the <F1> key to repeat that entry for each of the remaining months for the year.

The ACA regulations consider Dependents to be exclusive of Spouses.

Series 1 Codes. 1095-C line 14/Employee ACA record

Important: Before you use Code 1A, note that it differs from 1B-1E. 1A applies when the ALE member meets the certification guidelines and checks box A on line 22 of the summary transmittal form (1094-C). Also, with the 1A certification, no contribution amount is entered on line 15. You may not use code 1A if the monthly employee contribution amount is greater than $93.18. As this amount may change from year to year, review the IRS documentation for confirmation.

Code 1A may not be available on your system. See A. Qualifying Offer Method field in Control information.

Monthly employee contribution

If you have entered a Coverage code of 1B, 1C, 1D, or 1E above, enter the employee’s share for Monthly employee contribution (MEC) self-only coverage. All other coverage codes will preclude entries in this section. After completing one or more monthly entries, use the <F1> key to repeat that entry for each of the remaining months for the year.

You may use <F2> to use the default contribution amount from the Employee default monthly contribution field as entered in the ACA group which has been assigned to this employee. If the group has a contribution amount of zero, there is no default offered for this field.

Coverage/safe harbor codes

Enter the safe harbor Series 2 code from the list below. After completing one or more monthly entries, use the <F1> key to repeat that entry for each of the remaining months for the year.

To help you decide which code to enter, refer to the list below. These codes could be altered or added to by the IRS at any time, so also refer to the IRS 1095-C instructions for Line 16.

Series 2 Codes. 1095-C line 16/Employee ACA record

Covered Individuals Entry

This screen should only be used if your company is self-insured. In order to access this screen, you you must check the box for the Self-insured employer field in PR Control information.

Use this screen to enter the individuals, including the employee, that are covered under your companies self-insurance. Covered Individuals will print on Part III of the 1095-C form and depending on your license type, will be generated in the magnetic media E-file.

For self-insured companies the employee must be listed, along with their spouse/dependents, on the Covered Individuals section of the employee’s ACA record. For the employee their Social Security number must be used. Their spouse/dependents must use their Social Security number OR Date of Birth.

The following screen displays:

Covered Individuals List Box

The list box displays up to 6 existing covered individual records at a time. You may sort the covered individual records by first name, in ascending or descending order. Only columns with red labels may be sorted. To select a field or change the sort order, click on the column name or the arrow to the right of the column name or use the View options.

Covered individual records that display in the list box are available for changes or deletion. The fields for the selected covered individual record display in the lower part of the screen.

When a covered individual record is found, you may select the <Enter> key or Edit button to start editing.

Covered Individual Buttons

You may select a button or keyboard equivalent for adding, editing, or deleting a covered individual record. Here is a list of the functions for each button:

Character Mode

Enter the following fields:

Covered individual first name

Enter the first name of the individual covered under the employee's insurance.

Middle initial

Enter the middle initial of the covered individual. This field is optional.

Covered individual last name

Enter the last name of the individual covered under the employee's insurance.

Suffix

Enter the suffix of the covered individual. This field is optional.

Social Security number

Enter the Social Security number of the covered individual.

You may leave this field blank. If you do, you must enter the date of birth.

Social Security numbers are prone to identity theft. Passport helps to secure this field by encrypting the number in the file and following the entry of the field, only displaying the last four digits of the number.

As this field is optional, to eliminate the risk, you may want to enter the date of birth rather than the social security number.

Date of birth

Enter the date of birth of the covered individual.

You may leave this field blank. If you do, you must enter the Social Security number.

Months of coverage

January February March April May June July August September October November December

Check the boxes of the months where the individual was covered. This normally corresponds to the same months the employee is covered. Select the <F1> key to select all the months. Use the <F2> key to unselect all the months.

ACA Reports

ACA reports are used to verify and validate your data before you print and submit the 1095-C and 1094-C forms or ACA magnetic media.

Print ACA groups

This report will list all ACA Groups you have entered, including their name, description, safe harbor method, original Stability Period starting date, and the length of each phase (measurement, administrative, stability) in the Standard measurement period and Initial measurement period cycles.

Select

Print ACA groups from the Affordable Care Act menu.

There is no limitation so all groups will print. You will be asked to select a printer.

Print Employee's ACA Information

This report prints a list of a range of employees with their ACA information as entered via the Enter employees ACA info menu selection.

There is an option to purge the employee ACA data, however, the employee ACA data may only be purged three years after the Payroll year date.

If you are a self-insured company and the employee ACA records have associated Covered individual records, when selecting to print the full report type, they will print as well.

Select

Print employees ACA info from the Affordable Care Act menu. The following screen displays:

Character Mode

Enter the following fields:

Payroll year

Enter the calendar year. You may use the option of <F5> for "All" years.

Starting employee number

Enter the starting employee number.

You may use the option of <F2> for the "First" employee number or <F8> to find the employee via the lookup.

Ending employee number

Enter the ending employee number.

You may use the option of <F2> for the "Last" employee number or <F8> to find the employee via the lookup.

Date type

Select the date type of Hire date, Termination date, No hire date, or None. In character mode enter either N = None, H = Hire date, M = No hire date or T = Termination.

All employees must have a hire date. An employee ACA record cannot be entered without one.

Selecting Termination date only includes those employees with a set termination date and within the date range selected. In other words, non-terminated employees are not included.

Starting date and Ending date

Enter the starting and ending date range.

Depending on what you selected in the Date type field, the date entered is either the starting hire date or starting termination date.

Selecting <F2> for "First" to "Last" is not recommended as it prints all employee records even if they do not have a hire date or termination date.

Department

Enter the department or select <F5> for "All" departments.

Report type

Select either Full or Brief. Full prints all the employee ACA information including data for each month. Brief prints one line per employee with no monthly information.

If you are a self-insured company and the employee ACA records have associated Covered individual records, selecting to print the full report prints the employee's Covered individual records as well.

Purge file

The employee ACA data may be purged three years after the Payroll year date. This field becomes active in 2017 and then you may purge data with a 2014 Payroll year. In 2018 you may purge 2015 data and so on.

If you are a self-insured company and the employee ACA records have associated Covered individual records, selecting to purge removes the employee's Covered individual records as well.

Refer to IRS Publication 5165 for the number of years that data should be retained. Until that time you may delete individual employee ACA records manually under Employee ACA info.

OK or Cancel

Select OK to display a list of printers and print the report. Select Cancel to return to the menu without printing a report.

If you selected to purge the data there is a period of processing while the data is being removed.

Insurance Report

The ACA insurance report provides employee / employer insurance contribution information and helps you determine:

This report defaults to the current year based on the system date. Also, the report uses employee ACA status information only for the month the report is run.

Only employees with an employee ACA record for the current year will print on this report. Employees that are terminated do not print on the report.

You may print all employees or only employees who have been offered coverage, full-time, part-time or both ACA statuses. You may print employee from a department or "All" departments. You may create a csv output file.

For each row, the report prints the employee number and employee name. It also prints the following columns:

When Coverage penalty? column prints as Yes, you may consider paying the penalty vs. the employer's share of the insurance amount.

Select

Insurance report from the Affordable Care Act menu. The following screen displays:

Character Mode

Print only employees who have been offered coverage

This field allows you to filter for only employees who have been offered coverage. The program reads the Insurance offered field in the employee ACA information to determine which employees have been offered coverage.

ACA FT/PT status

Select FT = full-time, PT = part-time or Both for both full-time and part-time employees.

Home department

Enter the department or <F5> for "All" departments.

Create csv file

Check this box to generate a csv file output and print the report. Leaving the box unchecked will only print the report. Running the report on a Windows or Thin client system generates a CSV file automatically and launches your default system program which opens the CSV file. Using Linux/UNIX telnet the program saves the CSV file to the ACACSV directory under the top-level PBS directory, however, the program does not automatically launch a system CSV program.

If you want to keep this data confidential, only allow users that can create this Payroll csv output to have access to the folder where you store the file.

The file is named similar to this:

00_ACA_Insurance_Report_20191104_15012505.CSV

In the example above, 00 is the company ID. ACA_Insurance_Report is the name of the report and 20191104_15012505 is the date and time it was created.

OK or Cancel

Select OK to display a list of printers or Cancel to return to the menu without printing.

If you checked the box for creating a csv file you will also be asked to select a location for the file. You may change the default file name to any name you like.

ALE Calculation Report

The ALE (applicable large employers) Calculation report generates monthly counts of full-time, plus the calculation of part-time employees to get full-time equivalents, to help determine the ACA full-time employee count.

You may already know that you have 50 or more full-time employees and full-time equivalent employees. When this is the case you may not need to run this report.

To get an accurate number of ACA defined full-time employees, you must have ACA employee info records for each employee that worked throughout the year. The employee code must be set up accurately for each employee. See Employee code.

The employee codes of owner and shareholder are considered exempt. These are totaled in the Number of Exempt Employees column.

Only the part-time employees with a regular and family employee code are totaled in the Total Hours of PT Employees working less than 130 hrs column.

Hours for seasonal employees are totaled in the Total Hours of Exempt Seasonal Employees column.

The Number of ACA Defined Full Time Employees column is the addition of these three columns:

Number of All Assigned Full Time Employees

Number of PT Employees Working at least 130 hours

Number of FTEs from < 130 Hour PT Pool. This amount is rounded down

A monthly average is provided at the end of each column.

The Monthly Labor Summary report will also help you determine the number of full-time and equivalent employees you have. Unlike the ALE calculation report, the Monthly labor summary report does not require you to enter employee ACA info first. Because of this the Monthly labor summary cannot take into account the employee codes or their exemptions.

Select

ALE calculation report from the Affordable Care Act menu. The following screen displays:

Character Mode

Enter the following fields:

Payroll year

Enter the payroll year. The year defaults to the system year.

Create csv file

Check this box to generate a csv file output and print the report. Leaving the box unchecked will only print the report. Running the report on a Windows or Thin client system generates a CSV file automatically and launches your default system program which opens the CSV file. Using Linux/UNIX telnet the program saves the CSV file to the ACACSV directory under the top-level PBS directory, however, the program does not automatically launch a system CSV program.

If you want to keep this data confidential, only allow users that can create the Payroll csv output to have access to the folder where you store the file.

The file is named similar to this:

00_ALE_Calculation_Report_2019_20191026_16331379.CSV

In the example above, 00 is the company ID. ALE_Calculation_Report is the name of the report, 2019 is the tax year and 20191026_16331379 is the date and time it was created.

OK or Cancel

Select OK to display a list of printers and print the report or Cancel to return to the menu without printing.

If you checked the box for creating a csv file, you will also be asked to select a location for the file. You may change the default file name to any name you like.

Eligibility and Insurance Offered Report

This list shows each employee's insurance eligibility and offer of insurance settings as entered via the Enter employees ACA info menu selection. You may select employees by their status of full-time, part-time or both.

This report defaults to printing data for the current Control information payroll year.

Employees will not print on the report if:

For those employees who are eligible for insurance, but have not been offered insurance, you will need to take the appropriate action.

Select

Elig. and Ins. offerd. report from the Affordable Care Act menu. The following screen displays:

Character Mode

Enter the following fields:

ACA FT/PT status

Select FT = full-time, PT = part-time or Both for both full-time and part-time employees.

Create csv file

Check this box to generate a csv file output and print the report. Leaving the box unchecked will only print the report. Running the report on a Windows or Thin client system generates a CSV file automatically and launches your default system program which opens the CSV file. Using Linux/UNIX telnet the program saves the CSV file to the ACACSV directory under the top-level PBS directory, however, the program does not automatically launch a system CSV program.

If you want to keep this data confidential, only allow users that can create the Payroll csv output to have access to the folder where you store the file.

The file is named similar to this:

00_ACA_Eligible_Offers_Of_Insurance_Report_20191026_13404198.CSV

In the example above, 00 is the company ID. ACA_Eligible_Offers_Of_Insurance_Report is the name of the report and 20191026_13404198 is the date and time it was created.

OK or Cancel

Select OK to display a list of printers and print the report or Cancel to return to the menu without printing.

If you checked the box for creating a csv file you will also be asked to select a location for the file. You may change the default file name to any name you like.

Initial Measurement Period Report

This report generates a list of employees for a particular ACA group and tells you the if the initial measurement period for the employee is in the measurement period, administrative period or stability period.

The initial measurement period is defined in the group record. See Initial measurement period (IMP).

This report helps you determine the phase of the initial measurement cycle for an employee. Based on the average number of hours an employee has worked so far, it helps determine if they are actually full-time or part-time. The last column indicates the employee's measured ACA full-time / part-time status which helps you decide on what to enter for the employee's ACA info. See ACA FT/PT status.

Employees

Select

Init. measurement prd. report from the Affordable Care Act menu. The following screen displays:

Character Mode

Enter the following fields:

ACA Group

Select an ACA group code as entered in the Enter ACA groups menu section. If there is only one entered group, this field defaults to this group.

If an ACA group description has been entered for the group, it displays to the right of the code.

If you have only one group it automatically fills in.

You have the following options:

Create csv file

Check this box to generate a csv file output and print the report. Leaving the box unchecked will only print the report. Running the report on a Windows or Thin client system generates a CSV file automatically and launches your default system program which opens the CSV file. Using Linux/UNIX telnet the program saves the CSV file to the ACACSV directory under the top-level PBS directory, however, the program does not automatically launch a system CSV program.

If you want to keep this data confidential, only allow users that can create the Payroll csv output to have access to the folder where you store the file.

The file is named similar to this:

00_Initial_Measurement_Period_Report_12_20191026_13334094.CSV

In the example above, 00 is the company ID. Initial_Measurement_Period_Report is the name of the report, _12_ is the ACA group ID, and 20191026_13334094 is the date and time it was created.

OK or Cancel

Select OK to display a list of printers and print the report or Cancel to return to the menu without printing.

If you checked the box for creating a csv file you will also be asked to select a location for the file. You may change the default file name to any name you like.

Standard Measurement Period Report

This report generates a list of employees based on the standard measurement period settings of a particular ACA group. The initial measurement period is defined in the group record. See Standard measurement period (SMP).

The average monthly hours is compared to the last month of their ACA status of the standard measurement period. Based on the average number of hours an employee worked during the standard measurement period, this report determines whether the employee is full-time or part-time. Based on the ACA status consistency column, you can set the employee ACA full-time /part-time status properly. See ACA FT/PT status.

In the Reports and Form Examples appendix, see a sample Form and Report Examples.

Select

Std. measurement prd. report from the Affordable Care Act menu. The following screen displays:

Character Mode

Enter the following fields:

ACA Group

Select an ACA group code as entered in the Enter ACA groups menu section. If an ACA group description has been entered for the group, it displays to the right of the code.

If there is only one entered group, the field defaults to this group.

You have the following options:

Only show employees with ACA Status mismatches

Check this box to help identify those employees with an incorrect full-time/part-time status designation. Otherwise, leave it unchecked.

Create csv file

Check this box to generate a csv file output and print the report. Leaving the box unchecked will only print the report. Running the report on a Windows or Thin client system generates a CSV file automatically and launches your default system program which opens the CSV file. Using Linux/UNIX telnet the program saves the CSV file to the ACACSV directory under the top-level PBS directory, however, the program does not automatically launch a system CSV program.

If you want to keep this data confidential, only allow users that can create the Payroll csv output to have access to the folder where you store the file.

The file is named similar to this:

00_Standard_Measurement_Period_Report_A _20191022_15274633.csv

In the example above, 00 is the company ID. Standard_Measurement_Period_Report is the name of the report, _A is ACA group and 20191022_15274633 is the date and time it was created.

OK or Cancel

Select OK to display a list of printers and print the report or Cancel to return to the menu without printing.

If you checked the box for creating a csv file, you will also be asked to select a location for the file. You may change the default file name to any name you like.

Safe Harbor Comparison Report

There are three Safe harbor methods which include W-2 wages, Rate of pay and Federal poverty level. The Sale Harbor comparison report helps you determine the Safe harbor method you assign to your employees. A column for each method is provided on the report.

There is a column for year-to-date wages. This is computed by accumulating the time history total Federal withholding gross pay field for each period falling within the year.

The Safe harbor method is determined by an entry in the ACA group. The ACA group gets assigned to the employee ACA information. See the instructions for the Safe Harbor method used field.

In order for employees to print on this report they must fit the following criteria:

Select

Safe harbor comparison report from the Affordable Care Act menu. The following screen displays:

Character Mode

Enter the following fields:

Starting date and Ending date

This field filters on the period ending date from Time history (TIMHIS) and Adjustment history (MANHIS).

If the employee is paid weekly or bi-weekly a pay period can overlap two months. In this case the report only uses that part of the pay period in the date range entered.

To be most effective, you should enter a date range that contains the current fiscal year data and starting at the first of the month and ending on the last day of a month.

Compensation method

Enter Salary, Hourly or Both.

Using character mode enter S = Salary, H = Hourly or B = for both salary and hourly.

ACA group

Enter the ACA group or select the Lookup via <F8> to display a list of ACA groups and select a group from there.

If only one ACA group has been entered using Enter ACA groups, the program defaults to this group and cannot be changed.

You have the following options:

Print lowest wages/hourly rate employees only

Checking this box will print the employee with the lowest hourly rate and the employee with the lowest average monthly wage. This could be the same employee. No matter how many months an employee works, it is calculated over a 12 month period.

Determining the lowest hourly rate and lowest average monthly wage employee helps you decide the Safe Harbor method you will assign to the ACA group, which gets assigned to your employee's ACA information.

Create csv file

Check this box to generate a csv file output and print the report. Leaving the box unchecked will only print the report. Running the report on a Windows or Thin client system generates a CSV file automatically and launches your default system program which opens the CSV file. Using Linux/UNIX telnet the program saves the CSV file to the ACACSV directory under the top-level PBS directory, however, the program does not automatically launch a system CSV program.

If you want to keep this data confidential, only allow users that can create the Payroll csv output to have access to the folder where you store this file.

It is named similar to this:

00_ACA_Safe_Harbor_Comparison_Report_PA_20191026_12035149.CSV

In the example above, 00 is the company ID. ACA_Safe_Harbor_Comparison_Report is the name of the report, _PA_ is the ACA group ID, and 20191026_12035149 is the date and time it was created.

If you select "All" for the ACA group, that part of the file name is written as zz. Otherwise, it will print the actual ACA group ID.

OK or Cancel

Select OK to display a list of printers and print the report or Cancel to return to the menu without printing.

If you checked the box for creating a csv file, you will also be asked to select a location for the file. You may change the default file name to any name you like.

Validate 1095-C/1094-C Information

Use this selection to print 1095-C/1094-C copies to check the validity of the Affordable Care Act data.

This function will allow you to print draft copies of the 1095-C forms. You may use this copy to validate the employees data. You are encouraged to include a printed 1095-C form, along with a short explanation of the form to each employee and have them check their data, such as address and months worked. Have each employee return their form with corrections or an "ok" indication.

If there are any errors in the data a 1095-C Exception Report will be printed. When there are errors, the 1095-C forms will not print. You must first correct the data and run the report again.

Here are some of the possible errors and how to correct the errors:

Windows Printer

When selecting Windows printer, the program combines the data with jpg files that contain images of the 1095-C and 1094-C forms. In the middle of each page the image will contain the letters Draft Only. Do not use pre-printed forms with Windows printer.

Company information Printer

When using a Company information printer, the program prints the following with the data: DRAFT ONLY-DO NOT SUBMIT TO THE IRS. With a Company information printer, you must use pre-printed forms. You may purchase 1095-C and 1094-C forms from Trainor Business Forms – 847-296-2900.

Select

Print 1095-C/1094-C forms from the Affordable Care Act menu. The following screen displays:

Which payroll year

Enter the payroll year of the data to be reported.

Forms to print

You may select to print a 1094-C form and 1095-C forms as well as the 1095-C exception report. The 1095-C is available in landscape and portrait page orientation. The 1094-C is only available in landscape.

If there is any problem with the data, the exception report will print .See Fatal Errors and Warnings. Print the exception report, fix data problems as needed and then print the forms.

You must use a Company information laser printer. You have these options:

* When the exception report prints you must correct the data before you can print the forms.

ALE member authoritative transmittal

This field cannot be entered.

Ok or Cancel

Click on OK to select a printer for printing the forms or Cancel to not print and return to the menu.

When draft printing 1094-C/1095-C information to a Windows printer and you plan on distributing the forms to employees, be sure to select single sided printing only.

Fatal Errors and Warnings

If there are fatal errors no forms will print and only an exception report will print. In order to print forms you must correct the errors listed in the exception report.

There may also be warnings. You are not required to correct warnings, however, it is recommended that you look at the warnings before you print the forms. There may be some data you want to correct.

Here are some of the possible errors and how to correct the errors:

Report 1095-C/1094-C Information

Use this selection to do the final processing for Affordable Care Act reporting to the IRS.

This menu selection prints or generates the final version that you provide to the IRS. If you are validating the accuracy of your data, use the Validate 1095-C/1094-C info menu selection.

This selection can be run after the calendar year is completed, in the new payroll year:

At any time during the year, you may also use this selection to get a 1095-C full time employee count.

The functions that you are able to use here depend on your ACA license type.

If you have an ACA Essentials license, the Report 1095-C/1094-C info menu selection only allows you to print the data on pre-printed 1095-C Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage forms and pre-printed 1094-C Transmittal of Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage Information Returns forms.

These and other forms are available through Trainor Business Forms: 847-296-2900. Landscape forms allow more room than portrait forms for printing the Name of ALE Member field - legal company name. You do not have to order Transmittal Form Page 3 (1094-C). This is only for companies with common ownership. Health Coverage Continuation form are only required for employees with more than 6 covered individuals.

If you have an ACA Corporate or ACA Enterprise license, the system will only allow you to generate a magnetic E-file.

1095-C/1094-C Forms

Essentials Licensees must use a Company information laser printer and pre-printed forms for the 1095-C. The 1095-C form is available to print in the page orientations of landscape and portrait. However, landscape allows the printing of up to 50 characters for the full legal ALE company name and portrait only allows 25 characters. Printing your full legal name is recommended. For that reason Landscape orientation is recommended. See Name of ALE Member (Employer) in Control informatiion.

The company address used for printing the forms is used from the Control information Affordable Care Act (ALE) tab. If you are a Designated Government Entity company, address and other information is used from the Affordable Care Act (DGE) tab.

Users with essentials Licensees will not need to order Transmittal Form Page 3 (1094-C). This is only for companies with common ownership.

Health Coverage Continuation forms are only required for self-insured companies and for employees with more than 6 covered dependents.

1095-C forms will not be printed for employees that:

1095-C/1094-C Magnetic Media E-File

Most of the data generated to E-file is from employee ACA info. The company address is from the Control information Affordable Care Act (ALE) tab. If you are a Designated Government Entity company, address and other information is used from the Affordable Care Act (DGE) tab. See the Affordable Care Act Tab / Screen and the other Affordable Care Act tabs.

1095-C records will not be generated for employees that:

Back up your PBS System

Back up your data before you run this selection. Once the forms are printed for a particular year, the ACA data is locked and you will not be able to print them or create an E-file again. If your forms jam or do not print properly for any reason, you must go to a backup to reprint. Be sure to do a complete backup of the PBS system. As regulations change from year-to-year, PBS programs will also change accordingly. Including everything in the PBS folder in your backup is recommended. If using SQL, backup your SQL companies as well.

You have an option during the printing process to not lock the ACA data. If you answer No to the question Did the 1095-C forms just printed OK? you will be allowed to print the forms again.

Select

Report 1095-C/1094-C info from the Affordable Care Act menu. The following screen displays:

Character Mode

Be prepared to mount your 1095-C and 1094-C forms on the printer. Enter the following fields:

Get 1095-C total count

You may select this field for calculating the number of 1095-C forms to order.

When this field is checked:

The full time employee count can only be done for the current open ACA year.

If you do not check this field, be prepared to mount your 1095-C and 1094-C forms on the printer.

Which payroll year

Enter the payroll year of the data to be reported on the forms.

Forms to print

You may select to print a 1094-C form and 1095-C forms as well as the 1095-C exception report.

If there is any problem with the data, the exception report will print for each of the choices below . It is recommend that you print the exception report first, fix data problems if they exist and then print the forms.

To print the forms, you must use a Company information laser printer. You have these options:

ALE member authoritative transmittal

This field cannot be entered.

Transmitter Control Code (TCC)

If you have an Enterprise license you do not have to enter this field.

If you have a Corporate or Enterprise license which generates an Electronic file, enter the TCC that was assigned to you by IRS. If you do not have a TCC, see Procedures for 1095-C and 1094-C Electronic Filing.

OK or Cancel

Select OK to display a list of printers and print the report. Be prepared to mount the forms on the laser printer. Select Cancel to return to the menu without printing.

Errors and Warnings

In the example above there are both errors and warnings. You may only have errors and no warnings. Regardless, if there are fatal errors the forms will not print or the electronic file will not be generated. Print the errors and warnings report. The errors must be corrected. Correcting the warnings is optional. See Fatal Errors and Warnings.

Warnings Only Message

If you get the warnings were found message you may choose to ignore the warnings and continue. To continue select Yes. If you prefer to review the warnings before you continue select No.

Invalid ACA Payroll Year

The Invalid ACA payroll year message occurs when the current system date is in the same year as your ACA data year. Wait until after January 1 to report your 1095-C / 1094-C data.

Form Selection Type

Select Yes to print 1095-Cs in landscape orientation. Select No to print in portrait orientation.

Select a Company information laser printer. Verify that the forms are mounted on the printer.

Print an alignment if needed.

Print Confirmation

If you select Yes, the ACA records are locked and cannot be reprinted (unless you go to a backup. If you select No, you may reprint the forms again.

From the totals screen, select OK or Cancel to return to the menu.

Generated ACA E-files

XML files are generated for E-filing. There is a manifest file and standard file. Both are needed for E-filing.

Here are examples of the file names:

00_2019_1094C_Request_BB3WT_20200129T161327990Z.xml

00_2019_Manifest_1094C_Request_BB3WT_2060129T161327990Z.xml

Both files start with the Passport Company ID and the reporting year. The remainder of the file name is what is recommended by the IRS.

Procedures for 1095-C and 1094-C Electronic Filing

Here are the steps:

ACA File and Initialization Utilities

There are multiple Payroll files/tables used in the reporting of Affordable Care Act reports and forms. However, there are four files that are used to store only Affordable Care Act data. These include:

There is a separate set of utilities for the ACA files. In the top level PBS run ACAUTIL.BAT. In Linux, run acautil.

If you have multiple companies, while on the company ID field, you have the option to enter <F5> for all companies.

These files are not exported or restored using the extended file utilities.

There is also a separate set of initialization utilities for the ACA files. In the top level PBS, run ACAINIT.BAT. In Linux, run acainit.

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