The IRS has issued the Draft versions of their 2017 1094-C and 1095-C Forms and Instructions. You may want to take some time to review these as well as some of the highlights we have compiled below. By doing so you can take a more managed approach to your IRS reporting this year, as rumor has it there will be no good faith exceptions awarded to those who fail to report information returns correctly and on time. For example, you can start by making sure you have completed the printing and mailing of your Solicitation Notices for corrected information to any employees you reported for 2016 whom the IRS identified as having errors in their personal data. In general, these are due by December 31 of the year following the reporting year. For more information on how to issue Solicitation Notices using HRM software, you can review the PowerPoint and training videos for 2016 reporting on the Support/Training page of our website, under the Human Resources Management header, by clicking on Annual Training. We will also soon be updating this information for 2017 reporting.
You can also review your Category, Medical Plan, and Health Benefit Records, so that the Compiling of the 1095-C Information in our HRM software will go as smoothly as possible and require minimal editing and/or recompiling. Also, you will want to make arrangements to complete the compiling, reviewing, printing and furnishing of forms 1095-C to your employees by the January 31, 2018 deadline. In addition, you must file the 1095-C and 1094-C forms with the IRS by February 28 if filing on paper, or April 2, 2018, if filing electronically. You can get an automatic 30-day extension of time to file by completing Form 8809. File Form 8809 as soon as you know that a 30-day extension of time to file is needed. You can mail or fax a paper Form 8809 as well as file it online using a fill-in form or an electronic file. See the instructions for Form 8809 for more information.
We would like to encourage everyone to file their 2017 1095-C Information Returns electronically, whether you must file 250 returns or not. The reason is because the electronic filing process gives you instant responses from the IRS about your returns, as well as the specific errors found during the upload process. The IRS acknowledges your submission and gives you an instant status of Rejected, Accepted with Errors, or Accepted. Any errors can then immediately be downloaded from the IRS and imported into the HRM Software, letting you know what information needs to be corrected. If you haven’t already done so Register NOW with the IRS to obtain your Transmitter Control Code [TCC] and get access to the File Upload site. Remember, if this is your first time using your TCC, you will need to submit Test files first, and the IRS will have to move your TCC into Production [P] Status before you can upload any electronic files. This process can take time, so get these necessary steps out of the way now, before time runs out. If you have already obtained and used your TCC for a previous years’ Reporting, you do not need to submit test files again.