November 20, 2016
On Friday November 18, 2016 the IRS provided every employer an automatic extension from the deadline to furnish the Form 1095-C statements to individuals. Additionally, the IRS extended the good faith efforts standard to the 2016 Forms. This is a surprise that should be helpful to employers but also will make the IRS less forgiving of late filers.
Notice 2016-70 provided transition relief by extending the due date for the Form 1095-C statements that were to be furnished to individuals by January 31, 2017 to March 2, 2017. Importantly, the permissive extension discussed in the instructions to the Form 1095-C no longer applies to the individual statement deadline. Therefore, the March 2, 2017 deadline for furnishing the Form 1095-C statements is now a hard deadline.
However, unlike last year’s automatic extension provided by Notice 2016-4, Notice 2016-70 does not provide an extension for the Forms 1094-C and 1095-C which are to be provided to the IRS. The deadline to file the Forms 1094-C and 1095-C with the IRS is February 28, 2017 if the employer is filing on paper. If an employer is filing electronically, the deadline is March 31, 2017. An employer can still complete a Form 8809 to receive an automatic 30 day extension. With the 30 day automatic extension, the deadline for filing on paper is March 30, 2017 and the deadline for filing electronically is May 1, 2017.
Fortunately, Notice 2016-70 also extends the good faith efforts standard to the 2016 calendar year so long as an employer complies with the new deadline for furnishing the statement to individuals and the old deadline for filing the Forms 1094-C and 1095-C with the IRS. The transition relief discussed in Notice 2016-70 only applies to the 2016 calendar year. Employers should not anticipate such leniency in future years.
Should you have any additional questions or need assistance filing the Forms 1094-C and 1095-C, please contact us.
About the author – Ryan Moulder serves as General Counsel at Accord Systems, LLC and is a Partner at Health Care Attorney's P.C. Ryan received his LL.M. from Georgetown University Law Center and his J.D. from Saint Louis University School of Law. He has distinguished himself as a leader in the newly created Affordable Care Act arena and has written and spoken on a variety of ACA topics as it relates to compliance for companies.
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