In 2015, 75% of a company’s employees were required to be offered the Affordable Care Act (ACA) coverage by employers, and in 2016, that number went up to 95%. The number of ACA-related forms needed to be filed is only rising, and with that, the potential for mistakes rises, too.
Human Resources departments understand all too well the difficulties specific to maintaining a large number of personal records and sensitive information, especially during filing season. The ACA is still new, so there isn’t a large number of experts on the topic. This can make for confusion, tax withholdings, misfilings, and other time-consuming, expensive issues.
But now, all types of industries and company departments are using switching over to electronic filing and delivery systems to maximize efficiency.
You’ll save time, software, and resources
Electronic filing systems can improve levels of productivity and save you money. Over time, you must expend more company resources, hours, and busy employees that don’t have the time to take on additional tasks. The IRS requires all HR departments to maintain and hold onto records related to expenses, purchases, income, and business transactions. Also, inventory statistics, insurance records, business licenses, and any other related information must be filed.
E-filing saves on time by inputting information with what is known as a “bulk upload.” Depending on the number of employees in your company, the more forms you need to file in your upload, the more you’ll save. From one to hundreds of forms, you can file everything you need with an e-filing system that stays organized. eFile360 offers an electronic delivery option to allow recipients to securely access tax forms, whether paper or electronic. If they don’t access their forms electronically, we automatically send a paper statement.
Efficient ACA compliance
For businesses with 50+ employees, HR departments must report employer-related health care insurance information per the Affordable Care Act, requiring forms like 1095-B and 1095-C, for example. Even with a smaller business, tracking and organizing this extensive database of sensitive information can become overwhelming. It’s also crucial that all information matches up.
Depending on the way your forms are ordered with an e-filing service like eFile360, you have the option of including TIN checking. With this add-on service, we carry out a TIN check before filing your forms to verify those name combinations and TIN IDs match. If the TIN check doesn’t pass, you’ll be notified and we’ll hold onto the statements until it succeeds. However, since it’s still up to you to file your forms on time, you’ll want to keep the dates for filing in mind to avoid late penalties. Here are the key dates for filing 2019 ACA forms in 2020.
Following the storage regulations of the IRS, e-filing will also save important information, so you won’t have to reenter the same information year after year.
Worry a little less about deadlines and regulations
The IRS will begin sending out penalty letters for 2017 in 2019, and businesses have already been receiving 2016 penalty letters. Just for the year of 2015, 49,259 employers were identified by the IRS as being liable for $4.5 billion in penalties. So understanding ACA regulations is not only crucial to saving time and resources, it can potentially save you a lot of money.
Since we keep up with the latest forms, deadlines, and newest regulations, we can help you to stay ahead of the game.
How will e-filing work in my HR department?
The nature of your needs with eFile360 will depend on how large your business is. For a business with 200 needed forms or less, the process will be slightly more manual, but not as time-consuming as working through the forms and submission process yourself. To import a spreadsheet, the process takes about 15-20 minutes. Here’s how it works.
We can help you to settle into the e-filing system that will help to supercharge your organization and help you to breathe a little easier when it’s time for tax season. Register for a free account and get started. We support a wide variety of forms! If you’re looking for a solution for navigating the busy tax season, we’re happy to help.