You're Not Required to Do Anything
You may have heard that the 38 federally run public exchanges are preparing to send employer notifications for employees who have enrolled for individual coverage AND have claimed APTC under the Affordable Care Act. You can relax (a little) because you may not have to do anything at all other than file these notices.What The Heck is APTC?!
Advance Premium Tax Credits (APTC) are a fancy name for the much-ballyhooed subsidy that many (approximately 3.5 million) people received this past year when enrolling in coverage through the Excange. As a part of the enrollment process, these individuals provided the name and address of their employer along with the rest of their application data. It is this employer data which is being used to send you (the employer) these notices.How Will I Receive This Notice?
That's the million dollar question. Not the 'how', as that will be via good old-fashioned mail. Perhaps a better question is, "WILL I actually receive the notice?!" If you are an employer with multiple locations, or a different corporate address from the primary work location, will your employees have remembered to list the correct address during a very confusing and frustrating enrollment process? I foresee that there will be MANY instances in which these notices never arrive. What then? There isn't guidance yet on this particular question, but I have some recommendations for my clients which I'm happy to share. But first, let's assume that you DO receive the notices.It's important for you to know that employers are not required to respond to this notice, but there may be reasons to do so. Appeals may:
- Help employees avoid an accumulating repayment obligation to the IRS for a wrongfully claimed subsidy
- Lead to less interaction with the IRS over 1095-C filings and a smoother reporting process overall
Whoa! Appeal?! Appeal WHAT?!
Consider that, up until this point, whether an employee received subsidy or not was based solely on unverified information in their Exchange application. They could be attesting that they were not eligible or were offered coverage. They could have misunderstood their eligibility or their cost share. The purpose of the notices is to make employers aware of what information was provided. You may have employees who could face having to repay their subsidy amount to the IRS. And we all know how fun it is to have an "Accounts Payable" with the IRS!If you want to help employees without the time and expense of appealing the notices, consider contacting those who appear to have claimed APTCs mistakenly. But do so with caution. Do not discourage anyone from obtaining an APTC or express a negative view about an employee claiming an APTC. And remember employers cannot retaliate against an employee who obtains an APTC.
Whether you plan to appeal the notices or not, you should prepare for their receipt. Expect employees to make errors in filing out the employer address section of the application, and instruct mailroom staff and other possible recipients to be on the lookout for notices and to forward them to the appropriate location. Remember above all that these notices contain confidential information! But if you anticipate that the notices can arrive at different locations, having them collected at a central location allows you to anticipate the amount of interaction you may have with the IRS over your 1095-C fillings.
Drop us a line if you have questions, and good luck out there!
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