Brokers have been shackled to the Affordable Care Act ... the Federal "Fix" for the health insurance industry. "Fix" is a very loose term and if it means the industry is now under the burden of being under the scrutiny of the "masters inside the beltway" then it is very true. In addition to the 20-50% premium increases that nearly everyone has had to tolerate to pay for all the "free stuff" promised in the rhetoric, now employers that have 50 or more FTE's are stuck with getting gouged by the confusion and costs of the ACA required filing of 1094 and 1095 forms. It is very very strange that our attorneys are telling us that the IRS is still fluid on how the codes will be interpreted by the IRS but the payroll companies seem to have it all together ... especially charging thousands of dollars setup for giving their clients access to screens where the client is allowed to key in all the information needed for the forms.
So, the brokers' tongues are hanging out because they are being pushed to the limit every day because of the high volume of December renewals ... thus really working hard just to keep up. But the national payroll companies are wagging their tongues at the smorgasbord of new fees that get to be piled into January in addition to the W2's.
Now, reporting is important, and MoneyWise is on the wagon to help with these crazy and in someways stupid requirements. One example. If an employee is there for all 12 months, is on an affordable plan and the plan meets the minimum requirements the ONLY additional entry on the entire form for a fully funded plan other than the identification information in Part I is the entry 1A in the first box on Line 14 of the 1095-C. That's it. 1A So, for that an employer gets to pay a couple of thousand dollars in setup and they get the forms to distribute with the W2's for a mere $7 each ... Oh yeah, the national payroll companies are also charging a "buck or two" to "track the hours" as well. Crazy!
Whew. I feel better now.
Ignorance can be expensive. All I am saying is this. Pay attention and learn what this is all about. We have already talked to dozens of companies that will do these themselves. Why not? The filing standard is "good faith effort" ... so if you make a mistake, and it was based on something that was reasonable, you get the chance to fix it. So, you fix it and move on ... move on with a few thousand dollars extra in your bank account.
Besides, who thinks these things are here forever? By next year, it will probably be a new box on the W2 ... and why not? FLEX, 410(k), HSA and HRA's are already there!