Make Your Voice Heard On Burdensome IRS Requirements

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service recently released the draft 1095-C form for 2020. Under the 2010 Affordable Care Act health care law, employers are required to print and mail this form to employees enrolled in the company’s health insurance plan. The compliance costs associated with printing and mailing these forms, instead of sending electronically like other employee tax forms, are large.

This year, the IRS made significant additions to the form that will increase business compliance costs even more. Specifically, it is estimated the IRS’ changes will:

• Increase the paper needed to print and mail 1095-C forms to employees, nearing doubling the printing costs for employers;
• Require employers and third-party administrators to reprogram reporting systems; and
• Bring an unwelcome increase in compliance costs to employers in these economic-uncertain times.

Businesses are encouraged to voice concerns about the revised form to the IRS by submitting short comments via this website. The comment field on the website limits the number of characters allowed so the comments must be brief and should note the impacts outlined above.

Commenters also should ask that the IRS:

• Clarify purpose of the zip code in Part II, Line 17 because the zip code line is irrelevant;
• Reduce the number of covered Individuals rows in Part III from the drafted 13 rows to 5 rows since rarely do covered employees have that many dependents enrolled in their plan;
• Release draft forms and instructions together since ,without the instructions, it is hard for employers, vendors, and insurance brokers to clearly decipher and interpret changes made on draft forms and prepare for reporting compliance; and
• Strive to reduce employers’ compliance burdens and costs and not add to them by allowing companies to electronically transmit Form 1095-C to employees.