HR Tip: Court ruling does not affect ACA obligations

The recent court ruling by a federal judge in Texas that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is unconstitutional, does not affect the coverage and reporting obligations for employers. The ruling is a declaratory judgment and not an injunction to freeze the ACA and most expect the case will make its way to the Supreme Court.

Similar to the past two years, the IRS has extended the original Jan. 31, 2019, deadline for employers to distribute 2018 Forms 1095-C or 1095-B to employees to March 4, 2019. The critical 2019 filing deadlines for forms that detail 2018 coverage are now as follows:

Employers that file 250 or more information returns with the IRS must file the returns electronically. Because of the extension, the 30-day extension that would normally be available on a showing of good cause is not available - March 4 is a hard deadline.