n-16-04.pdf

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EXTENSION OF THE DUE DATES FOR 2015 INFORMATION REPORTING UNDER
I.R.C. §§ 6055 AND 6056

Notice 2016-4

PURPOSE
This notice extends the due dates for the 2015 information reporting
requirements (both furnishing to individuals and filing with the Internal Revenue Service
(Service)) for insurers, self-insuring employers, and certain other providers of minimum
essential coverage under section 6055 of the Internal Revenue Code (Code), and the
information reporting requirements for applicable large employers under section 6056 of
the Code. Specifically, this notice extends the due date (1) for furnishing to individuals
the 2015 Form 1095-B, Health Coverage, and the 2015 Form 1095-C, Employer-
Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage, from February 1, 2016, to March 31,
2016, and (2) for filing with the Service the 2015 Form 1094-B, Transmittal of Health
Coverage Information Returns, the 2015 Form 1095-B, Health Coverage, the 2015
Form 1094-C, Transmittal of Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage
Information Returns, and the 2015 Form 1095-C, Employer-Provided Health Insurance
Offer and Coverage, from February 29, 2016, to May 31, 2016, if not filing electronically,
and from March 31, 2016, to June 30, 2016 if filing electronically. This notice also
provides guidance to individuals who might not receive a Form 1095-B or Form 1095-C
by the time they file their 2015 tax returns.

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The Service is prepared to accept filings of the information returns on Forms
1094-B, 1095-B, 1094-C, and 1095-C beginning in January 2016. Following
consultation with stakeholders, however, the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) and
the Service have determined that some employers, insurers, and other providers of
minimum essential coverage need additional time to adapt and implement systems and
procedures to gather, analyze, and report this information. Notwithstanding the
extensions provided in this notice, employers and other coverage providers are
encouraged to furnish statements and file the information returns as soon as they are
ready.
BACKGROUND
Section 6055 and section 6056 were added to the Internal Revenue Code by
sections 1502 and 1514 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA),
enacted March 23, 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-148. Section 6055 requires health insurance
issuers, self-insuring employers, government agencies, and other providers of minimum
essential coverage to file and furnish annual information returns and statements
regarding coverage provided. Section 6056 requires applicable large employers
(generally those with 50 or more full-time employees, including full-time equivalents, in
the previous year) to file and furnish annual information returns and statements relating
to the health insurance that the employer offers (or does not offer) to its full-time
employees. Section 6056 was amended by sections 10106(g) and 10108(j) of the ACA
and was further amended by section 1858(b)(5) of the Department of Defense and Full-
Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011. Section 36B, which was added to the Code
by section 1401 of the ACA, provides a premium tax credit for eligible individuals who

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enroll in coverage through a Health Insurance Marketplace (Marketplace). Section
5000A, which was added to the Code by section 1501(b) of the ACA, generally provides
that individuals must have minimum essential coverage, qualify for an exemption from
the minimum essential coverage requirement, or make an individual shared
responsibility payment when they file their federal income tax return.
Section 6721 of the Code imposes a penalty for failing to timely file an
information return or filing an incorrect or incomplete information return. Section 6722
of the Code imposes a penalty for failing to timely furnish an information statement or
furnishing an incorrect or incomplete information statement. Section 6721 and 6722
penalties are imposed with regard to information returns and statements listed in section
6724(d) of the Code, and section 6724(d) lists the information returns and statements
required by sections 6055 and 6056.
Final regulations, published on March 10, 2014, relating to the reporting
requirements under sections 6055 and 6056, specify the deadlines for information
reporting required by those sections. See Information Reporting of Minimum Essential
Coverage, T.D. 9660, 79 FR 13220-01; Information Reporting by Applicable Large
Employers on Health Insurance Coverage Offered Under Employer-Sponsored Plans,
T.D. 9661, 79 FR 13231-01. The regulations under section 6055 provide that every
person that provides minimum essential coverage to an individual during a calendar
year must file with the Service an information return and a transmittal on or before the
following February 28 (March 31 if filed electronically) and must furnish to the
responsible individual identified on the return a written statement on or before January
31 following that calendar year. (In 2016, the January 31 and February 28 due dates

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referred to above in this paragraph and in the following paragraph fall on weekend days;
accordingly, in 2016 these two due dates are February 1 and February 29,
respectively.) The Service has designated Form 1094-B and Form 1095-B to meet the
requirements of the section 6055 regulations.
The regulations under section 6056 require every applicable large employer or a
member of an aggregated group that is determined to be an applicable large employer
(ALE member) to file with the Service an information return and a transmittal on or
before February 28 (March 31 if filed electronically) of the year following the calendar
year to which it relates and to furnish to full-time employees a written statement on or
before January 31 following that calendar year. The Service has designated Form
1094-C and Form 1095-C to meet the requirements of the section 6056 regulations.
The preambles to the section 6055 and section 6056 regulations (T.D. 9660, 79
FR 13220; T.D. 9661, 79 FR 13231-01) provide that, for 2015 coverage, the Service will
not impose penalties under section 6721 and section 6722 on reporting entities that can
show that they have made good faith efforts to comply with the information reporting
requirements, and that this relief applies only to furnishing and filing incorrect or
incomplete information, including TINs or dates of birth, reported on a return or
statement and not to a failure to timely furnish or file a statement or return. Notice
2015-87, 2015-52 I.R.B. 889, reiterates that relief, and Notice 2015-68, 2015-41 I.R.B.
547, provides additional information about that relief with regard to reporting under
section 6055. The preambles also note, however, the general rule that, under section
6724 and the related regulations, the section 6721 and section 6722 penalties may be
waived if a failure to timely furnish or file a statement or return is due to reasonable

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cause, that is, the reporting entity demonstrates that it acted in a responsible manner
and the failure is due to significant mitigating factors or events beyond the reporting
entity’s control.
TRANSITION RELIEF
This notice extends the due date for furnishing the 2015 Form 1095-B and the
2015 Form 1095-C from February 1, 2016, to March 31, 2016. This notice also extends
the due date for filing with the Service the 2015 Form 1094-B and the 2015 Form 1094-
C from February 29, 2016, to May 31, 2016, if not filing electronically, and from March
31, 2016, to June 30, 2016, if filing electronically. In view of these extensions, the
provisions regarding automatic and permissive extensions of time for filing information
returns and permissive extensions of time for furnishing statements will not apply to the
extended due dates. Employers or other coverage providers that do not comply with
these extended due dates are subject to penalties under section 6722 or 6721 for failure
to timely furnish and file. However, employers and other coverage providers that do not
meet the extended due dates are still encouraged to furnish and file, and the Service
will take such furnishing and filing into consideration when determining whether to abate
penalties for reasonable cause. The Service will also take into account whether an
employer or other coverage provider made reasonable efforts to prepare for reporting
the required information to the Service and furnishing it to employees and covered
individuals, such as gathering and transmitting the necessary data to an agent to
prepare the data for submission to the Service, or testing its ability to transmit
information to the Service. In addition, the Service will take into account the extent to
which the employer or other coverage provider is taking steps to ensure that it is able to
comply with the reporting requirements for 2016.

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Some individual taxpayers may be affected by the extension of the due date for
employers to furnish information under section 6056 on Form 1095-C. Under
section 36B(c)(2)(C), an employee is not eligible for the premium tax credit for any
month for which the employee is eligible for coverage under an eligible employer-
sponsored plan that provides minimum value and is affordable (or for any month for
which the employee enrolls in an eligible employer-sponsored plan, regardless of
whether the plan is affordable or provides minimum value). The Form 1095-C generally
includes information on the coverage (if any) offered by the applicable large employer to
the full-time employee. The information reported will assist the employee in determining
eligibility for the premium tax credit. However, most individuals offered employer-
provided coverage will not be affected by the extension. This is partly because
section 1.36B-2(c)(3)(v)(A)(3)) of the Income Tax Regulations provides that an offer of
employer-sponsored coverage is generally treated as unaffordable for section 36B
purposes if the individual enrolls in coverage through the Marketplace and receives the
benefit of advance payments of the premium tax credit based on a determination from
the Marketplace that the offer of employer-sponsored coverage is unaffordable.
Specifically, the extension will not affect employees who enrolled in the employer-
sponsored coverage or in other coverage that was not offered through the Marketplace;
employees who for any other reason would not qualify for a premium tax credit (for
example, an employee who qualifies for Medicare or has household income in excess of
the limits); employees who enrolled in coverage through the Marketplace and received
the benefit of advance payments of the premium tax credit based on a determination by

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the Marketplace that the employee’s offer of employer-sponsored coverage was
unaffordable; or employees who did not enroll in any coverage.
Nonetheless, some employees (and related individuals) who enrolled in coverage
through the Marketplace but did not receive a determination from the Marketplace that
the offer of employer-sponsored coverage was not affordable could be affected by the
extension if they do not receive their Forms 1095-C before they file their income tax
returns. As a result, for 2015 only, individuals who rely upon other information received
from employers about their offers of coverage for purposes of determining eligibility for
the premium tax credit when filing their income tax returns need not amend their returns
once they receive their Forms 1095-C or any corrected Forms 1095-C. Individuals need
not send this information to the Service when filing their returns but should keep it with
their tax records.
Similarly, some individual taxpayers may be affected by the extension of the due
date for providers of minimum essential coverage to furnish information under section
6055 on either Form 1095-B or Form 1095-C. Individuals generally use this information
to confirm that they had minimum essential coverage for purposes of sections 36B
and 5000A. Because, as a result of the extension, individuals may not have received
this information before they file their income tax returns, for 2015 only individuals who
rely upon other information received from their coverage providers about their coverage
for purposes of filing their returns need not amend their returns once they receive the
Form 1095-B or Form 1095-C or any corrections. Individuals need not send this
information to the Service when filing their returns but should keep it with their tax
records.

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The extensions of due dates provided by this notice apply only to section 6055
and section 6056 information returns and statements for calendar year 2015 filed and
furnished in 2016 and do not require the submission of any request or other
documentation to the Service. Because these extensions apply automatically to all
filers and are more generous than extensions of time to file or furnish 2015 returns and
information statements under sections 6055 and 6056 that have already been
requested by some filers in submissions to the Service, such requests will not be
formally granted. These extensions for the information reporting provisions of sections
6055 and 6056 for calendar year 2015 have no effect on these information reporting
provisions for other years or on the effective date or application of other ACA provisions
(except as described above with respect to sections 36B and 5000A for 2015).
DRAFTING INFORMATION
The principal author of this notice is Michael E. Hara of the Office of Associate
Chief Counsel (Procedure and Administration). For further information regarding this
notice contact Michael Hara at (202) 317-6845 (not a toll-free call).