a step by step guide to ascentis hr data readiness for aca ... · form 1095-c part iii-applies to...

A Step by Step Guide

To

Ascentis HR Data

Readiness for ACA Reporting

Mid Calendar Year and not needing Open Enrollment simultaneously

Getting your data ready for effortless and accurate ACA is a matter of preparation. This Guide will walk you thru understanding and editing each of the four primary data elements you need to have ready for year-end reporting. We will also provide you with the step by step instructions for auditing your data utilizing the Report Wizard in Ascentis HR Employee Manager.

Step 1- Employer Identification Number, (EIN) Form 1095-C Box 8 and Form 1094-C Lines 1-6, 21-22, Part IV

Ascentis ACA Year-End Reporting Services uses the Payroll Directory (if you have Ascentis Payroll) or Payroll Code (if you do not have Ascentis Payroll) field on each employee’s Compensation Record in Ascentis HR to determine which EIN each employee should be reported under for 2015. The Ascentis Year End Reporting Wizard will use this information to determine the values displayed on both the 1095-C and the 1094-C.

If you have Ascentis Payroll, then you should have a payroll directory assigned to each employee on their compensation record. Here’s where to look:

Our best practice advice is to run periodic audits of your payroll directories or payroll codes that are assigned to each employee. Here’s a simple report option for you using the Report Wizard-

1. Open Report Wizard 2. Category = Custom 3. Report Type= Custom History Report 4. Name your report, so you can run it as needed, and subtitle by Employee 5. Choose the Calculated Date= Current Year 6. You don’t need to change any screen until you get to “Choose Employees according to

criteria”, so leave the defaults, by clicking “next” 7. Choose Employees According to Criteria = employment status 8. Include all the Active Statuses, and LOA Statuses 9. Choose to view the list of employees, so you can look thru the list and see if they appear

correct 10. You don’t need any additional criteria 11. You want to pick employee ID, and the Status, Effective Date and End Date, from the

“Salary History” Category 12. Then move columns around and/or change headers as preferred, and export the report.

If you don’t have Ascentis Payroll you need to assign your employees a payroll code. You create payroll codes in Setup Manager, using the menu that appears when you click on the “Setup” in the upper left corner of the screen.

You want to select “New Code to create them. If you have multiple EINs, then each EIN needs its’ own unique Payroll Code.

Once you have them created, you can utilize the Quick Start Utility to add them into each employee’s compensation record. Make sure you have a payroll code assigned to any employee or non-employee who was at any time eligible for benefits in 2015. If you aren’t familiar with the Quick Start Utility, then please contact HR Support for assistance. After you have added in the missing payroll directories or payroll codes for your employees, best practice is to run another Salary History report to confirm. When you start processing your ACA Year End Reporting, there is a Setup step where you will input the EINs within your company, and map them to the Payroll Directory or Payroll code. An example of this is shown below.

Step 2- Dependent SSNs Form 1095-C Part III-Applies to ALEs with Self-Funded Plans only

Form 1095-B-Applies to ALL employees and non-employees enrolled in a medical plan

The Affordable Care Act requires Employers with Self-Funded Medical Plans to report SSNs for each dependent that was covered under the employee’s medical plan in 2015. It also requires health insurance companies to provide Form 1095-B to employees and the IRS. Form 1095-B will be used by the IRS to determine if an employee qualifies for an exemption to the individual shared responsibility payment. If you have Ascentis Carrier Connections, you most likely have already audited dependent SSNs, in preparation of their production of the 1095-Bs. The 1095-C provided to your employees should have the same dependents listed on Part III as the 1095-B does in Part IV. Ascentis provides your employees with a copy of their 1095-C and the employee’s Health Insurance Provider provides them a copy of their 1095-B. Note that Ascentis does not provide the 1095-B. Ascentis and the Health Insurance Provider are also responsible for filing 1095-Cs and 1095-Bs with the IRS.

Our best practice advice is to run periodic audits of dependent SSNs. Here’s a simple report option for you using the Report Wizard-


criteria”, so leave the defaults, by clicking “next” 7. Choose Employees According to Criteria = employment status 8. Include all the Active Statuses, LOA Statuses, and the COBRA Dependent Status 9. Choose to view the list of employees, so you can look thru the list and see if they appear

correct 10. You need additional criteria. Choose Category=Benefits, and Field Name= Plan Type 11. The field must start with= Med 12. You want to choose the Category=Benefits, and Field Names Enrollees, Plan Name and

status. You also want to choose the Category=Dependents, and Field Names Birthdate, Name, Relationship and SSN.

13. Then move columns around and/or change headers as preferred. You will be asked to select the Carriers and Plans you want to appear on the report. Choose all the Medical Plan options offered.

14. Export and print the report. 15. Sort the report to find the “Active” enrollments for dependents without a value in the SSN

column. We also recommend building a widget for your ESS Home Page that tells your employees exactly why they are being asked to provide this information. If they understand that it will help them at tax time, they are more likely to provide the information you require. Ascentis has also built a new “Dependent Missing SSN Alert” that you can request be activated by contacting [email protected].

Step 3- Enroll All Medical Plan Members back to January 1. Build your medical plans back to 1/1, even if they started the prior year. Your goal is to capture the cost of the plans, both employee and employer costs back to 1/1. You can use the batch enrollment wizard to enroll employees and their dependents. Make sure you include terminated employees, anyone on COBRA, including COBRA dependents and any non-employees that may be covered in the calendar year. Once all employees are enrolled using the batch enrollment wizard, run, a plan enrollment report.

mailto:[email protected]

A plan enrollment report is a standard report in the Benefits Category of the Ascentis HR Report Wizard.

Run the report by medical plan and choose all active employees by month. If it is July, that means you will have reports for 6 months of reports. Based on your plan eligibility criteria, you will need to determine which day of the month will provide you most accurate reporting. For example, if your employees stay active in a plan, if they terminate in that month, until the last day of the month you will want to run your reports using the last day of the month as the date.

Your medical plan carrier(s) or broker should be able to give you a census report by month, or with an enrollment date for each plan member. Compare the Ascentis HR Plan Enrollment reports with the report(s) from your Carrier.

Step 4- Ascentis Employment Status Form 1095-C Lines 14 and 16

Ascentis ACA Year-End Reporting Services will use the Employment Status field in Ascentis HR to determine who gets a 1095-C, as well as to calculate the codes on Lines 14 and 15of the 1095-C.

Each of your employment statuses in Ascentis HR will be mapped to one of three ACA Employee Statuses. The three ACA Employee statuses are:

• Qualifies as Full Time under the Affordable Care Act • Designates other employees, not qualified as Full time under the ACA

• Designates non-employees, or no longer employed by your company. In preparation for year-end reporting, and auditing of your employee data, it’s essential that every employee in Ascentis HR has an employment status. The employment status cannot have any gaps in the date sequence. This is probably best explained with an example.

You only need to look at the calendar year 2015. Alecia was part time in January and February, was terminated March, April and May, and then came back full time in June thru the end of the year. For purposes of ACA reporting in 2015, the Ascentis HR Employment Status is translated to one of the three ACA Employee Statuses. This translates as: Alicia would be “other employees” while part time, “non-employee” while terminated, and she finishes the year as “Full Time.” When you start processing ACA Year End Reporting, you will see a Setup step that will allow you to map your Employment Statuses from Ascentis HR to the ACA Employee Status, as shown below.

Therefore you simply need to ensure that employees have employment status history with no breaks in the date sequence. If for example you didn’t have a record with a Terminated status in history for Alicia, and her part time status ended on 2-28-15 and her full time status began on 6/1/15, you would have to add her termination history line into her record in order for you to complete your ACA year end reporting. Our best practice advice is to run periodic audits of your employment status data. Here’s a simple report option for you using the Report Wizard-


criteria”, so leave the defaults, by clicking “next” 19. Choose Employees According to Criteria = employment status 20. Include all the Active Statuses, and LOA Statuses 21. Choose to view the list of employees, so you can look thru the list and see if they appear

correct 22. You don’t need any additional criteria 23. You want to pick employee ID, and the Status, Start Date and End Date, from the

“Employment Status History” Category 24. The move columns around and/or change headers as preferred, and export the report.

Step 5- Adding in any “Non-Employees” who were covered in your medical plans. Enrolling a “COBRA Dependent Only” in Ascentis HR

Dependents who are covered under COBRA without the employee enrolled, such as is the case in the dependent child who turns 26 and elects COBRA or the spouse or ex-spouse who elect COBRA and is not covered under the employee, need to have their own unique record in Ascentis HR. Let’s get started!

1. Create a record the dependent in Ascentis HR.

2. Enter the COBRA dependent’s Name, SSN, the Employee’s Date of Hire, and the employment Status COBRA Dependent Only.

New Employee

3. Enter the same Location, Division, Department and Job Title as the employee. Enter the Dependent’s Date of Birth and Gender.

4. Click on “OK” and the “Personal Tab” will open. You should add in the Dependent’s address. It’s always a good idea to notate the employee’s name and employee ID for reference in the

Comments Box.

5. Click “OK” and open the “Employment Tab.” Verify the Dependent is listed with the employment status of “COBRA Dependent Only” and has the same hire date as the employee.

Employee

Dependent

6. Next move on to the “Job Tab” and confirm the From Date, Location, Division and Department match the employee’s record. If they have more than one line of job history, it should match

the current line of history.

7. Now you are ready to complete the benefit enrollment for the dependent. Best practice is always to verify the dependent has been processed correctly in Ascentis HR, under the employee. Check the Dependent Tab, and verify they are marked as “ineligible” for benefit coverage.

Then go to the Benefit plan enrollment records, and verify they are “inactive.” In the case a dependent who turns age 26, the enrollment should show as “inactive” on the last day of the month in which they turned age 26.

8. Now it’s time to actually enroll the dependent in the same medical plan, they were covered under previously. Open the dependent’s benefit record. Select “New.”

9. Select the Medical plan from the drop down list on the “Health” tab. Then make sure you select “Ineligible Child” reason as the COBRA qualifying reason. It’s buried in the bottom of the drop down list.

10. By selecting a COBRA Qualifying reason, the “COBRA Active” status will appear in the Benefit Status drop down list. That’s the Benefit reason you must select

11. . The plan should start on the first day of the month the dependent was terminated from the employee’s plan.

Click “Ok” when you have completed the enrollment. You will see this pop up. You can again select yes if you are tracking COBRA in Ascentis HR or No if you are not, or using a TPA.

12. You will now see that your dependent is enrolled in a medical plan as a COBRA active! Congratulations, you have completed your COBRA Dependent Only Enrollment.

Step 6- Other Considerations 1. Compensation records for employees who worked in the calendar year must include

compensation back to 1/1 for purposes of affordability testing. 2. Hours per week for employees who are paid hourly needs to reflect a monthly average, since

affordability testing each month will use the hourly salary, and hours per week to determine annual compensation used in the federal poverty level .

3. Consider requesting the new Dependent SSN Alert from HR Support if you are under your initial 10 alerts, or request a sales quote adding it, if you do not have any of your 10 standard alerts remaining.

4. Know your FEINs, Company Name and Address used for filing your corporate tax returns. 5. Know your Measurement Period and Look Back Period 6. Know which Medical Plans are Self-Funded, Multiemployer, Meet Minimum Essential Coverage

Requirements, and/or Minimum Value Requirements. 7. Have your employment statuses set up to map cleanly to an ACA Employee Status: Full Time

Employee, Other Employee or Non-Employee. 8. Know who in your company will be listed on the 1095-C as the Contact Person for the Company. 9. Know which Certifications of eligibility you are using for each company: Qualifying Offer

Method, 98% Offer Method, Qualifying Offer Method Transition Relief, and/or Section 4980H Transition Relief.

10. ACA Reporting Readiness Checklist

All employees, COBRA Dependent Only and non-employees who were covered under your company’s Medical Plan in the calendar year are assigned a payroll directory or payroll code on their compensation record.

If you have Self-Funded Medical plans, all dependents that are a US resident have a Social Security Number on their record.

Compare the employees in Ascentis HR with a census from your Medical Plan(s). Add anyone missing into Ascentis HR. Examples are Dependents who turned age 26 during the year and elected COBRA or the Spouse or ex-Spouse who elected COBRA without the employee.

Everyone who is eligible and enrolled in the calendar year in a Medical Plan, has a benefit record.

Conduct a variable hour employee audit using your system of record for time, which in the Ascentis Product Suite is Timekeeper or NOVATime and verify that those who were eligible for a Medical plan, based on your look back period, were offered enrollment in a medical plan.

Run the ACA Affordability Widget by month to look for anyone not eligible and address accordingly. Run monthly once the reports are reconciled.

All payroll directories or payroll codes reflect employees in a single FEIN.

Everyone in the calendar year who was active in Ascentis HR, including COBRA Dependents Only and Non Employees have a payroll code or payroll directory on their compensation record.

Compensation records for employees who worked in the calendar year must include compensation back to 1/1 for purposes of affordability testing.

Hours per week for employees who are paid hourly needs to reflect a monthly average, since affordability testing each month will use the hourly salary, and hours per week to determine annual compensation used in the federal poverty level .

Consider requesting the new Dependent SSN Alert from HR Support if you are under your initial 10 alerts, or request a sales quote adding it, if you do not have any of your 10 standard alerts remaining.

I know the FEINs, Company Name and Address used for filing your corporate tax returns.

I know the Measurement Period and Look Back Period.

I know which Medical Plans are Self-Funded, Multiemployer, Meet Minimum Essential Coverage Requirements, and/or Minimum Value Requirements.

The employment statuses are set up to map cleanly to an ACA Employee Status: Full Time Employee, Other Employee or Non-Employee.

The company contact that will be listed on the 1095-C as the Contact Person has been identified.

I know which Certifications of eligibility the company is for each company: Qualifying Offer Method, 98% Offer Method, Qualifying Offer Method Transition Relief, and/or Section 4980H Transition Relief.

I have ESS Open to all Employees, active or terminated, thru February of the following calendar year, so they can opt into a paperless 1095-C.

I have a message pop up on ESS to remind employees to verify their address of record is correct.

a step by step guide to ascentis hr data readiness for aca ... · form 1095-c part iii-applies to...

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