With every new year, companies and their human resources departments have to reset their focus on updated business requirements, especially those relating to their employees. One of the most important obligations facing organizations these days is compliance with the Affordable Care Act. This federal regulation is subject to change over time. Due to the ACA's aim to transition easily into enterprises' actions, many of the rules were either pushed back completely or put on a delayed implementation schedule.
Now, as 2017 quickly approaches, certain elements of the ACA will be in full swing. Companies need to be ready to tackle these challenges head-on in order to prevent payment of large sums of money because of lack of adherence. Let's take a look at some of the ways organizations can overcome troubles with ACA compliance:
A compliance team can ensure every aspect of the ACA is met.Designate a leadership team
It can be difficult for human resources personnel to handle all of the responsibilities tied to the ACA on their own – especially depending on how big the group is. Instead of relying on HR solely, businesses should create a special compliance outfit whose job is to ensure the organization is following all necessary regulations down to every small rule. This team should be made up of a number of people from different areas or the organizations – HR, benefits, executives and other employees. Together, these workers can come to understand what it means to truly be ACA compliant, as well as educate their peers on that adherence and their rights as employees as well. Having one member from each area of the business ensures all bases are covered, while allowing the more knowledgeable people to share what they know on the subject.
While compiling a collaborative team is a possibility for some companies, it's not always feasible for all. If organizations find compliance to be too challenging to understand and complete on their own, they can always work with a third-party partner like Triton Benefits. Triton Benefits offers consulting services and ACA compliance assistance to guarantee enterprises are completely covered and adhering to government standards.
"In 2017, companies need to cover 95 percent of their FTEs."
Understand the compliance threshold
To make the ACA implementation as easy as possible for employers, the IRS introduced transition relief. This essentially cuts a break for businesses that gave their best effort toward adherence to the law's standards. In addition, the "pay of play" rule or shared responsibility mandate was phased in. Previously, organizations with 100 or more employees were responsible for making sure 70 percent of their full-time equivalent workers were receiving ACA coverage.
This will no longer be the case in 2016, for which reporting will take place in early 2017. Moving forward, organizations with 50 or more workers are obligated to provide ACA compliant coverage to 95 percent of their employees. If they fail to do so, they will be subject to the penalties associated with the pay or play penalty – $2,000 per employee if he or she purchases healthcare for the exchange as a result. Businesses should be aware that this requirement is a monthly one, instead of an average for the year. This means that even a single month where the company dips below that 95 percent threshold could result in shared responsibility fines.
Be mindful of important deadlines
Since the ACA has so many different parts and regulations for businesses to follow, it's understandable that elements can become confusing for company leaders. The aspects of this law are always subject to change – as we've seen with the compliance threshold. Recently, the deadlines for documentation submissions were pushed back to give organizations more time to correctly complete and send in their paperwork. Although there is no indication of an alteration to these dates – as of now – it's critical for companies to be mindful of the potential for an adjustment, according to the Society for Human Resource Management. Compliance teams can set up alerts on their calendar to notify them of upcoming submission dates or regular reminders to check with the IRS to see if any elements have recently changed. This way, organizations won't miss out on possible additional time, which can help prevent fines tied to simple mistakes and ensure they're completely compliant with the ACA.
Adherence to the ACA is an important responsibility for employers nationwide. The law includes a number of crucial obligations companies must comply with in order to provide their workers with comprehensive healthcare coverage. Year to year, the regulations tied to the ACA have been altered to restore the standards to their original intentions. As a result, organizations have had to stay on their toes to ensure they've adhered to any adjusted standards over time. To overcome the challenges associated with the ACA, businesses should designate a compliance team or work with a third-party partner, like Triton Benefits, understand the adherence threshold and consistently check on the possibility of updated deadlines. Taking these steps will put employers in the best place possible to become – and remain – ACA compliant.