Title: ACA Compliance and Reporting for Employers Source: https://ethosbenefits.com/services/aca-compliance Publisher: Ethos Benefits Summary: Ethos Benefits keeps your company ACA compliant: employer mandate, affordability, SBCs and PCORI fees, plus Forms 1094-C and 1095-C as an added service. 1. [Home](https://ethosbenefits.com/) 2. [Services](https://ethosbenefits.com/services) 3. ACA compliance and reporting. # ACA compliance and reporting. The employer mandate, done right. If your company has 50 or more full-time employees, including full-time equivalents, the ACA requires you to offer affordable, minimum value coverage and report it to the IRS each year. Ethos Benefits tests affordability, maintains your SBCs, supports the PCORI fee for self-funded plans and, as an added service, prepares Forms 1094-C and 1095-C. [Request a Strategic Analysis](https://ethosbenefits.com/strategic-analysis) ## What you get. ACA penalties are assessed long after the year they apply to, from data that was reported the year before. Most problems start with an eligibility or affordability mistake no one caught at the time. 1. **Employer mandate review** Whether your company is an applicable large employer, and whether the coverage offered meets the mandate for every full-time employee. 2. **Affordability testing** Each plan option tested against the IRS affordability percentage using the safe harbor that fits your workforce. 3. **Summaries of Benefits and Coverage** SBCs prepared or reviewed for every plan option and provided when required. 4. **PCORI fee** The fee calculated and the Form 720 package prepared for self-funded plans. 5. **Forms 1094-C and 1095-C** As an added service, the annual ACA reporting prepared and filed. 6. **Other ACA rules** Waiting periods, preventive care, out-of-pocket limits and dependent coverage to age 26 checked against plan design. ## The employer _mandate._ An applicable large employer must offer coverage to at least 95% of its full-time employees and their dependents, and that coverage must be affordable and provide minimum value. If it doesn’t, and a full-time employee gets subsidized coverage on the exchange, the IRS can assess a penalty under Internal Revenue Code § 4980H. ## Affordability, _every year._ The affordability percentage changes each year. Ethos re-tests every plan option at each renewal using the safe harbor that fits your workforce, before contributions are set, not after. ## Reporting. Forms 1094-C and 1095-C report what coverage was offered to whom, month by month. As an added service, Ethos prepares and files them from your payroll and enrollment data. Either way, the data that drives the forms is checked during the year so the filing reflects what actually happened. ## Part of your Fiduciary Framework™. Every Ethos service reports to your benefits committee. The work is reviewed at your quarterly committee meeting, each decision is recorded with the reasoning behind it, and the record lives in your Ethos Fiduciary OS. That is what lets your committee show the plan was run prudently. [See the Fiduciary Framework™](https://ethosbenefits.com/fiduciary-framework) · [How fiduciary governance works](https://ethosbenefits.com/services/fiduciary-governance) ## Related reading. - [**ACA reporting requirements** Benefits 101: ACA reporting for employers: which form you file, deadlines for tax years 2025 and 2026, the December 2024 law changes, and penalties for late or wrong returns.](https://ethosbenefits.com/benefits-101/aca-reporting) - [**What is Form 1095-C?** Benefits 101: What Form 1095-C is, who gets one, what Parts I, II and III show, what the line 14 and line 16 codes mean, and what employers and employees need to do.](https://ethosbenefits.com/benefits-101/form-1095-c) - [**The ACA affordability safe harbor** Benefits 101: The ACA affordability percentage by year (9.96% for 2026, 10.22% for 2027), how the W-2, rate of pay and FPL safe harbors work, and the 4980H penalties.](https://ethosbenefits.com/benefits-101/aca-affordability-safe-harbor) - [**Form 1095-B vs. 1095-C** Benefits 101: Form 1095-B vs. 1095-C: who files each ACA form, what each one reports, the deadlines for tax years 2025 and 2026, and how employees receive them.](https://ethosbenefits.com/benefits-101/1095-b-vs-1095-c) [Browse everything in Learn](https://ethosbenefits.com/learn) ## Sources 1. [Employer shared responsibility provisions](https://www.irs.gov/affordable-care-act/employers/employer-shared-responsibility-provisions), Internal Revenue Service 2. [Patient Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund fee, questions and answers](https://www.irs.gov/affordable-care-act/patient-centered-outcomes-research-trust-fund-fee-questions-and-answers), Internal Revenue Service ## Questions employers ask about this. Who is an applicable large employer? An employer with an average of 50 or more full-time employees, including full-time equivalents, during the prior calendar year. Related companies under common control are counted together. What does affordable mean under the ACA? Coverage is affordable if the employee’s required contribution for the lowest-cost self-only option stays under a percentage of income that the IRS sets each year. Because employers don’t know household income, they test it using an IRS safe harbor such as rate of pay or W-2 wages. Is ACA reporting included? Preparing and filing Forms 1094-C and 1095-C is available as an added service. Affordability testing and the other ACA requirements are part of Ethos compliance support. ## Keep reading Related to this page. - [**Compliance** Ethos Benefits keeps your health and welfare plans compliant with ERISA, the ACA, COBRA, HIPAA, mental health parity and the CAA, with every item proven. _Read more_](https://ethosbenefits.com/services/compliance) - [**Benchmarking and modeling** Ethos Benefits benchmarks your plan design and contributions against similar employers and models the cost and affordability of every change before you make it. _Read more_](https://ethosbenefits.com/services/benchmarking) - [**Nondiscrimination testing** Ethos Benefits runs Section 125, dependent care and Section 105(h) nondiscrimination testing so your plans keep their tax advantages for every employee. _Read more_](https://ethosbenefits.com/services/nondiscrimination-testing) - [**ERISA compliance** Ethos Benefits keeps your health and welfare plans ERISA compliant: plan documents, SPDs, required disclosures, Form 5500, bonding and provider disclosures. _Read more_](https://ethosbenefits.com/services/erisa-compliance) - [**Mental health parity** Ethos Benefits coordinates your plan’s NQTL comparative analysis under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act and keeps it current. _Read more_](https://ethosbenefits.com/services/mental-health-parity) ## See what your plan is really costing you. A Strategic Analysis starts with your plan documents and your broker agreement, then shows you what your plan costs, where the risk sits, and what a committee would decide with the full picture. [Request a Strategic Analysis](https://ethosbenefits.com/strategic-analysis) [Call (407) 803-4710](tel:+14078034710)