As the end of the year approaches, complying with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and reporting requirements goes beyond merely checking boxes—it’s about building a resilient, compliant foundation for the future. To help HR professionals and business leaders streamline this process, we offer a detailed ACA Reporting Compliance Checklist with action items for the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires applicable large employers (ALEs) to meet specific standards for healthcare coverage and reporting to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). To facilitate a smooth filing process and maintain ACA compliance, ALEs should adhere to a monthly task checklist. Additionally, there are essential tasks that ALEs must complete on time during the annual ACA filing season.

This checklist is crafted to guide you through each month’s critical tasks, enabling ALEs to proactively manage compliance issues and make well-informed decisions that support their organizational objectives.

End-of-Year ACA Reporting Requirements

Monthly ACA Compliance Tasks September 2024- December 2024

• Monitor Employee Status: Track full-time employees' status and service hours using monthly or look-back measurements.
• Offer Affordable Coverage: Continue offering affordable Minimal Essential Coverage (MEC) and Minimum Value (MV) coverage to newly hired full-time employees within the first 3 full calendar months of employment and newly calculated full-time employees once determined to be full-time.
• Data Uploads: Upload monthly data, including payroll (if applicable), census with the month's Hire/Terms/Edits, offer of coverage data with the month's Offers/Elections/Waives/Dis-enrollments, and Health Benefits Plan Summary Data
• Attest and Verify: Attest and verify that all payroll, census, insurance plan data, and offers of coverage data are accurate and have been reviewed.
• SSN Confirmation: Confirm Social Security Numbers (SSN) with the Social Security Number Verification Service.

ACA Reporting Requirements in the New Year

Monthly ACA Compliance Tasks for January 2025 

• Review Health Coverage: Review health coverage offered and provided to full-time employees and dependents in 2024, ensuring compliance with ACA requirements.
• Data Verification: Verify the accuracy and completeness of payroll and benefits data for 2024. Confirm accuracy and completeness of calculations and proper 1095-C form preparation.
• Continuation of Tasks: Continue tasks from previous months, including monitoring employee status, offering affordable MEC and MV to newly hired employees, and data uploads.
• Refer to all “Non-Filing Season Tasks” from previous months.

Monthly ACA Compliance Tasks for February 2025

• Review and Audit: Review, Audit, and complete Penalty Assessment for each form the employer will return to the IRS.
• Furnish Form 1095-C: Furnish the 1095-C form to each full-time, full-time-equivalent, or self-funded election employee by March 3, 2025. 
• Filing with the IRS: File Form 1094-C and copies of Form 1095-C with the IRS by February 28, 2025, for those filing on paper (fewer than 10 forms).
• Refer to all “Non-Filing Season Tasks” from previous months.

Monthly ACA Compliance Tasks for March 2025

• Furnish Form 1095-C: Reminder to furnish Form 1095-C to each eligible employee by March 3, 2025.
• Complete Edits: Complete all edits found by the employer, employee, or third-party preparer to ensure errors-free forms.
• Electronic Filing: File Form 1094-C and copies of Form 1095-C electronically with the IRS by March 31, 2025.
• Respond to Inquiries: Respond promptly to any inquiries or notices from the IRS or employees regarding Forms 1094-C and 1095
• Confirmation and Record Keeping: Confirm IRS provided Receipt ID with an Accepted or Accepted with Errors status. Collect all 2024 reporting data and documents for record keeping.
• Continuation of Tasks: Continue tasks from previous months, including monitoring employee status, offering affordable MEC, and data uploads.

Be sure to review and verify the accuracy of all calculations and indicator codes throughout the year. If possible, conduct a comprehensive audit of all forms before filing with the IRS. This will help you, as an employer, identify potential penalty risks prior to submitting your ACA reporting.

Conclusion

As the year comes to an end and we embrace year-end celebrations, it’s crucial to stay focused on essential ACA compliance tasks. The ACA Reporting Compliance Checklist provides a strategic guide for employers to navigate healthcare regulations with confidence. By following this checklist, maintaining compliance, and utilizing powerful tools like SyncStream Solutions, Applicable Large Employers (ALEs) can streamline their ACA filing process and ensure regulatory adherence.

Key actions such as tracking employee status, offering affordable coverage, and maintaining accurate data are vital for a seamless filing experience. Regularly reviewing calculations and indicator codes, along with conducting a comprehensive audit of all forms before filing with the IRS, enables employers to identify and mitigate penalty risks in advance. SyncStream Solutions’ ACA Audits equip ALEs to anticipate potential penalties, make necessary corrections, and strengthen their compliance efforts.

About SyncStream

SyncStream maintains a tenured, knowledgeable staff who continually monitor changes to the ACA employer mandate regulations, and the team updates solutions as laws evolve. SyncStream removes the burden of ACA compliance and provides penalty risk assessments and suggested corrections to reduce your company’s risk of high IRS penalties. Subject matter experts utilize SyncStream’s user-friendly compliance software to track employee hours, auto-populate forms, audit forms, and e-file for thousands of ALEs. SyncStream’s Full Service Total ACA solution can simplify your ACA compliance needs.