The Affordable Care Act requires employers with 50 or more full-time employees (or full-time equivalents) to report information about the health coverage they offer or don’t offer their employees to satisfy Internal Revenue Code Sections 6055 and 6056. To comply with these requirements, employers need to be familiar with two documents: the Section 6055 Reporting Workbook and the Section 6056 Reporting Workbook . But what exactly are these documents, and how can employers use them? Let’s take a closer look. What is Section 6055 and 6056 reporting? Under IRC Section 6055, entities that provide minimum essential coverage must report details of health insurance coverage offered or not offered during a calendar year. This includes details such as which employees were covered under an employer-sponsored plan, when coverage began and ended, whether any minimum essential coverage was offered, etc. The requirements in IRC Section 6056 cover larger employers classified as Applicable Large E...

  IRS finalizes deadline extension for furnishing ACA statements On Dec. 12, the Internal Revenue Service released a final rule that extends the annual statement furnishing deadlines for reporting under the Affordable Care Act’s Sections 6055 and 6056. This rule finalizes guidance that was proposed by the IRS in December 2021, with minor clarifications. Specifically, the rule: finalizes the 30-day automatic extension to the due date for furnishing statements to individuals under Sections 6055 and 6056; and confirms the availability of an alternate method for furnishing statements to individuals under Section 6055 for every year in which the individual mandate penalty is zero. The due date for filing forms with the IRS under Sections 6055 and 6056 remains unchanged. This means that forms must generally be filed with the IRS each year by Feb. 28 (or March 31, if filing electronically). Due to the 30-day automatic extension, employers have until March 2 (or March 1 in a leap year) to ...

The Family and Medical Leave Act is a federal law enforced by the U.S. Department of Labor that allows eligible employees to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons and requires employers to maintain employees’ health benefits during leave. Under this law, eligible employees may take leave for their own or family members’ serious health conditions, to bond with newborns or newly adopted children or for certain military family reasons. For full details on FMLA, check out our HR Compliance Overview . Below are answers to some common questions about FMLA. What employers are covered under FMLA? private-sector employers with 50 or more employees in at least 20 weeks of the current or preceding year; public agencies, including state, local and federal employers; and local education agencies, including elementary and secondary schools (public and private). What employees are eligible employees for FMLA? work for a covered employer; have worked for the employe...

Plan sponsors considering environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in their investments received promising news with the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) latest update in November. Although ESG investing has received increased attention over the past few years, DOL has not been transparent in defining how qualified retirement programs should incorporate ESG-specific metrics into their selection process. Until recently, the prevailing tone of DOL’s messaging has been that ESG should be secondary to financial factors. The Biden administration had hinted at loosening restrictions on ESG investing that were implemented during the final days of the Trump administration and forgone enforcement of those restrictions in the interim. This latest development is a realization of those earlier signals. With the announcement of DOL’s new rule, plan sponsors can, but are not required to, include ESG factors in their investment searches. Notably, plan sponsors can include ESG factors in th...

Trendiest benefits for 2023 Employers should consider offering their employees more than just a healthcare plan for 2023. Employers can offer holistic benefits, resources and perks to meet evolving worker needs shaped by the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, a tight labor market and rising inflation. Employers are offering the following popular benefits: Hospital indemnity insurance — Healthcare affordability is top of mind for employers and employees alike. Hospital indemnity insurance can provide value to employees without raising an employer’s costs, making it a powerful tool for attracting and retaining top workers. Health savings account contribution — Many employees are feeling financially strained due to record-high inflation. Financial wellness benefits, such as health savings account contributions, can ease employees’ financial stress and make an organization more attractive to today’s workers. Family-friendly benefits — Many employers offer parental leave, adopti...

The FMLA allows eligible employees to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons. In addition to providing eligible employees with an entitlement to leave, the FMLA requires employers to maintain employees’ health benefits during leave. Eligible employees must work at an employer subject to the FMLA. This includes: private-sector employers with 50 or more employees in at least 20 weeks of the current or preceding year; public agencies, including state, local and federal employers; and local education agencies, including elementary and secondary schools (public and private). To be eligible for FMLA leave, an employee must have worked for the employer for at least 12 months (does not need to be consecutive), have at least 1,250 hours of service for the employer during the 12-month period immediately preceding the leave and work within 75 miles of a location where the employer has 50 or more employees. For a full breakdown of all the FMLA provisions and requ...

A competitive vendor search, whether through a full-scope request for proposal (RFP) or a more limited request for information (RFI), is an exercise that will have an immediate, lasting and potentially significant impact on retirement program participants. An RFP or RFI presents an opportunity to make meaningful changes to your organization’s retirement program to ensure it is competitive, up-to-date and aligns with your goals. In addition, recent retirement plan litigation has highlighted the importance of a competitive bid process: this widely-accepted best practice can also serve as a shield against claims of fiduciary dereliction. So, if a competitive search is prudent, when is the right time to get started? That answer may depend on how you answer the following questions: What are the goals of my organization’s retirement plan as it relates to my business and my employees? There are many benefits for an employer to start a retirement plan, including having a tax-advantaged vehicle...