Affordable Care Act Information Returns (AIR)

You submit a file to the IRS and it comes back as Accepted. Great work! But then later you realize that you submitted erroneous data. You need to file a correction. Or you submit a file to the IRS and it comes back as Accepted With Errors. Here the IRS lists the errors in your file. You have to chase down the employees with incorrect data, prepare and submit a correction. Isolate the records that you want to correct. Don't resubmit your whole file again. If you have 1 record that is in error, put together an file with that one record. The IRS says "The Transmitter must furnish corrected statements (physical paper forms) to recipients as soon as possible” which means you have to print and mail a new 1095-B or 1095-C form to the employee. 1095-B Corrections: or Accepted With Errors. The ACA individual mandate requires Americans to have qualifying health insurance or minimum essential healthcare coverage. The individual mandate is part of The Affordable Care Act (ACA) which became law in March 2010. The IRS assessed penalties if individuals didn’t have proof of health insurance when they filed their taxes. In December 2017 (effective January 1, 2019), Congress repealed the financial penalties for individuals not having health insurance, but the requirement to have health insurance still exists.

Large employers continue to mail Form 1095-B or 1095-C to employees and paper or electronically file these forms to the IRS.

Paper Filing 1095-B or 1095-C forms

You can paper file. There is a comfort in printing the ACA forms on plain paper with black ink and mailing them to the IRS. Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Only employers with fewer than 250 returns may submit their filings to the IRS by mail. Employers with less than 250 returns can and are encouraged to file electronically because there are many benefits to electronic filing.
• Use the latest official IRS forms. IRS Letter 1865C is a very vague document that the IRS sends to employer if

• There is an error with the company's name and/or EIN.
• Information does not appear in the proper box.
• The font size is too small.
• You used a portrait style ACA form and the official form is in landscape format. I have seen companies sell the 1095-B and 1095-C forms oriented in portrait style.

• Don't mask the SSN numbers. The IRS encourages employers to mask the SSN when printing and mailing a copy to the employees. But you can't send the IRS a form with any masked taxpayer identification number.
• Place the 1094 followed by the 1095 forms in a flat, unfolded, envelope with no paperclips or staples. Consider use certified mail with the return-receipt requested.