n-19-63.pdf

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Transition Relief Related to Health Coverage Reporting Required by I.R.C. Sections
6055 and 6056 for 2019

Notice 2019-63

PURPOSE

This notice extends the due date for certain 2019 information-reporting
requirements under sections 6055 and 6056 of the Internal Revenue Code (Code) from
January 31, 2020, to March 2, 2020. This notice also provides relief from section 6721
and 6722 penalties for certain aspects of the 2019 information-reporting requirements
under sections 6055 and 6056.
BACKGROUND
Sections 6055 and 6056 were added to the Code by sections 1502 and 1514 of
the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), enacted March 23, 2010, Pub. L.
No. 111-148, 124 Stat. 119, 250, 256. 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 equivalent
employees, in the previous year) to file and furnish annual information returns and
statements relating to the health insurance, if any, that the employer offers to its full-
time employees. Section 6056 was amended by sections 10106(g) and 10108(j) of the

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ACA and was further amended by section 1858(b)(5) of the Department of Defense and
Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011, enacted April 15, 2011, Pub. L. No. 112-
10, 125 Stat. 38, 169.
Section 36B, which was added to the Code by section 1401 of the ACA, provides
a premium tax credit for eligible individuals who enroll in coverage through a Health
Insurance 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 11081 of Pub. L. No. 115-97, 131 Stat. 2054, 2092,
enacted December 22, 2017, and commonly referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,
reduces the individual shared responsibility payment to zero for months beginning after
December 31, 2018.
Section 6721 imposes a penalty for failing to timely file an information return or
for filing an incorrect or incomplete information return. Section 6722 imposes a penalty
for failing to timely furnish an information statement or for 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), which includes
those required by sections 6055 and 6056.
The regulations under section 6055 require every person that provides minimum
essential coverage to an individual during a calendar year to file with the Internal

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Revenue Service (Service) an information return and a transmittal on or before the
following February 28 (March 31 if filed electronically) and to furnish to the responsible
individual identified on the return a written statement on or before January 31 following
the calendar year to which the statement relates. See § 1.6055-1(f) and (g)(4) of the
Income Tax Regulations; see also § 6055(c)(2). Except as provided in the following
paragraph, the Service has designated Form 1094-B, Transmittal of Health Coverage
Information Returns, and Form 1095-B, Health Coverage, 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 the calendar year to which the statement relates. See
§ 301.6056-1(e) and (g) of the Procedure and Administration Regulations; see also
§ 6056(c)(2). The Service has designated Form 1094-C, Transmittal of Employer-
Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage Information Returns, and Form 1095-C,
Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage, to meet the requirements of
the section 6056 regulations. In addition, an ALE member that offers health coverage
through a self-insured health plan must complete the reporting required under section
6055 (that is, information about each individual enrolled in the self-insured health plan)

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using Form 1095-C, Part III, rather than Form 1095-B.
1
ALE members use Form 1095-
C, Part III to meet the section 6055 reporting requirement for all employees, but for
employees who are not full-time, ALE members report only certain information to reflect
that the Form 1095-C is being used to complete section 6055 reporting but not section
6056 reporting, which applies only to full-time employees.
The regulations under sections 6055 and 6056 allow the Service to grant an
extension of time of up to 30 days to furnish Forms 1095-B and 1095-C for good cause
shown. See §§ 1.6055-1(g)(4)(i)(B)(1) and 301.6056-1(g)(1)(ii)(A). In addition, filers of
Forms 1095-B, 1094-C, and 1095-C may receive an automatic 30-day extension of time
to file these forms with the Service by submitting Form 8809, Application for Extension
of Time To File Information Returns, on or before the due date for filing those forms.
See §§ 1.6081-1 and 1.6081-8. In limited situations, filers who submit Form 8809
before the automatic 30-day extension period expires may also receive an additional
30-day extension of time to file Forms 1095-B, 1094-C, and 1095-C with the Service.
See id.
The preambles to the section 6055 and 6056 regulations (T.D. 9660, 79 FR
13220, 2014-13 I.R.B. 842; T.D. 9661, 79 FR 13231, 2014-13 I.R.B. 855) provided that,
for reporting of 2015 offers and coverage, the Service would not impose penalties under
sections 6721 and 6722 on reporting entities that could show that they made good-faith

1
See the Instructions for Forms 1094-C and 1095-C for the option to file Form 1094-B and Form 1095-B,
rather than Form 1094-C and Form 1095-C, to report coverage of certain non-employees.

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efforts to comply with the information-reporting requirements. This relief applied only to
furnishing and filing incorrect or incomplete information reported on a statement or
return and not to a failure to timely furnish or file a statement or return. Notice 2015-87,
2015-52 I.R.B. 889, reiterated that relief, and Notice 2015-68, 2015-41 I.R.B. 547,
provided additional information about that relief with regard to reporting under section
6055. The preambles also noted the general rule that, under section 6724 and the
related regulations, the section 6721 and 6722 penalties may be waived if a failure to
timely furnish or file a statement or return is due to reasonable cause.
Through a series of Internal Revenue Bulletin notices, the Service extended the
due dates for information-reporting requirements under sections 6055 and 6056 for
furnishing statements to individuals for the years 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. See
Notice 2016-4, 2016-3 I.R.B. 279 (2015); Notice 2016-70, 2016-49 I.R.B. 784 (2016);
Notice 2018-06, 2018-2 I.R.B. 300 (2017); Notice 2018-94, 2018-51 I.R.B.1042 (2018).
In these notices, in general,
2
the Service extended the furnishing due date for the Forms
1095-B and 1095-C by 30 days. Each notice also extended the good-faith transition
relief from section 6721 and 6722 penalties to the information-reporting requirements
under sections 6055 and 6056 for the years 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018, respectively.
TRANSITION RELIEF
A. Extension of Due Date for Furnishing Information Statements to Individuals under
Sections 6055 and 6056 for 2019

2
For 2015, the furnishing due date was extended by 60 days and, for 2018, the furnishing due date was
extended by 32 days because the 30th day fell on a Saturday.

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The Department of the Treasury (Treasury Department) and the Service have
determined that a substantial number of employers, insurers, and other providers of
minimum essential coverage need additional time beyond the January 31, 2020, due
date to gather and analyze the information and prepare the 2019 Forms 1095-B and
1095-C to be furnished to individuals. Accordingly, this notice extends the due date for
furnishing the 2019 Forms 1095-B and 1095-C, from January 31, 2020, to March 2,
2020.
3
In view of this automatic extension to March 2, 2020, the provisions under
§§ 1.6055-1(g)(4)(i)(B)(1) and 301.6056-1(g)(1)(ii)(A) allowing the Service to grant an
extension of time of up to 30 days to furnish Forms 1095-B and 1095-C will not apply to
the extended due date. Because the extension of the due date to furnish information
statements to individuals granted in this notice applies automatically and is as generous
as the permissive 30-day extension of time to furnish 2019 information statements
under sections 6055 and 6056 that may be requested by some reporting entities in
submissions to the Service, the Service will not formally respond to such requests.
Notwithstanding the extension provided in this notice, employers and other coverage
providers are encouraged to furnish 2019 statements as soon as they are able.
This notice does not extend the due date for filing with the Service the 2019
Forms 1094-B, 1095-B, 1094-C, or 1095-C. However, this notice does not affect the

3
This Notice extends the due date for furnishing 2019 Forms 1095-B and 1095-C to March 2 to provide a
full 30-day extension. This due date takes into account that 2020 is a leap year and that March 1, 2020 is
a Sunday.

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provisions regarding an automatic extension of time for filing information returns; the
automatic extension remains available under the normal rules for employers and other
coverage providers who submit a Form 8809 on or before the due date. See §§ 1.6081-
1 and 1.6081-8. This notice also does not affect the provisions regarding additional
extensions of time to file. See id.
B. Relief Regarding the Furnishing Requirement under Section 6055 for 2019
In Notice 2018-94, the Treasury Department and the Service stated that,
because the individual shared responsibility payment is reduced to zero for months
beginning after December 31, 2018, they were studying whether and how the reporting
requirements under section 6055 should change, if at all, for future years. The Treasury
Department and the Service continue to do so and to request comments. Because the
individual shared responsibility payment is reduced to zero in 2019, an individual does
not need the information on Form 1095-B in order to compute his or her federal tax
liability or file an income tax return with the Service. Nonetheless, reporting entities
required to furnish Form 1095-B to individuals must expend resources to do so. At this
time, the Treasury Department and the Service have determined as a matter of
enforcement priorities that, for 2019, relief from the penalty under section 6722 for
failing to furnish a statement as required under section 6055 is in the interest of sound
tax administration in certain cases. In particular, the Service will not assess a penalty
under section 6722 against reporting entities for failing to furnish a Form 1095-B to
responsible individuals in cases where the following two conditions are met (the 2019

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section 6055 furnishing relief). First, the reporting entity posts a notice prominently on
its website stating that responsible individuals may receive a copy of their 2019 Form
1095-B upon request, accompanied by an email address and a physical address to
which a request may be sent, as well as a telephone number that responsible
individuals can use to contact the reporting entity with any questions. Second, the
reporting entity furnishes a 2019 Form 1095-B to any responsible individual upon
request within 30 days of the date the request is received.
As noted earlier in this notice, ALE members that offer self-insured health plans
are generally required to use Form 1095-C, Part III to meet the section 6055 reporting
requirements, instead of Form 1095-B. However, because of the combined reporting
under sections 6056 and 6055 on the Form 1095-C for full-time employees of ALE
members enrolled in self-insured health plans, the 2019 section 6055 furnishing relief
does not extend to the requirement to furnish Forms 1095-C to full-time employees.
Accordingly, for full-time employees enrolled in self-insured health plans, penalties will
continue to be assessed consistent with prior enforcement policies for any failure by
ALE members to furnish Form 1095-C, including Part III, according to the applicable
instructions. However, the 2019 section 6055 furnishing relief does extend to penalty
assessments in connection with the requirement to furnish the Form 1095-C to any
employee enrolled in an ALE member’s self-insured health plan who is not a full-time
employee for any month of 2019,
4
subject to the requirements of the 2019 section 6055

4
For such an employee, the Instructions for Forms 1094-C and 1095-C provide that the employer is to

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furnishing relief.
The 2019 section 6055 furnishing relief does not affect assessment of penalties
associated with the requirement or the deadline to file with the Service the 2019 Forms
1094-B or 1095-B or the Forms 1094-C or 1095-C, as applicable.
C. Extension of Good-Faith Relief for Reporting and Furnishing under Sections 6055
and 6056 for 2019
This notice also extends relief from penalties under sections 6721 and 6722 to
reporting entities that report incorrect or incomplete information on the return or
statement when these entities can show that they made good-faith efforts to comply
with the information-reporting requirements under sections 6055 and 6056 for 2019
(both for furnishing to individuals and for filing with the Service). This relief applies to
missing and inaccurate taxpayer identification numbers and dates of birth, as well as
other information required on the return or statement. Reporting entities must make a
good-faith effort to comply with the regulations under sections 6055 and 6056 to be
eligible for this relief. In determining good faith, the Service will 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. Reporting entities that fail to file an information return or

enter code 1G on line 14 for the Form 1095-C, but the ALE member is not otherwise required to
complete Part II of Form 1095-C.

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furnish a statement by the extended due dates, except as otherwise provided in this
notice, are not eligible for relief.
D. Future Years and Request for Comments
The Treasury Department and the Service request comments as to whether an
extension of the due date for furnishing statements to individuals under section 6056,
and an extension of good-faith reporting relief under section 6056, will be necessary for
future years and, if so, why. Taxpayers and reporting entities may submit comments
electronically via the Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov
(type “IRS-
2019-XX” in the search field on the regulations.gov homepage to find this notice and
submit comments).
Alternatively, taxpayers and reporting entities may mail comments to:
Internal Revenue Service
Attn: CC:PA:LPD:PR (Notice 2019-XX) Room 5203
P.O. Box 7604
Ben Franklin Station
Washington, D.C. 20044

All comments received will be available for public inspection on www.regulations.gov
.
CONTACT INFORMATION
The principal author of this notice is Danielle Pierce of the Office of the Associate
Chief Counsel (Procedure and Administration). For further information regarding this
notice contact Danielle Pierce at (202) 317-6845 (not a toll-free call).