Who Must Report?

As a governmental, Tribal, tax-exempt or for-profit employer, if you are an applicable large employer you are subject to the Affordable Care Act information reporting requirements. These requirements apply to you whether or not you offered health coverage to your employees.

You are an applicable large employer for 2015 if you had 50 or more full-time employees, including full-time equivalent employees, in 2014.

What Must You Report?

If you were an applicable large employer in 2015, you must file information returns with the IRS and provide statements to each employee who was a full-time employee for at least one month of the year about health coverage you offered or to show that you did not offer health coverage.

What Forms Must Be Used To Report?

• Form 1094-C, Transmittal of Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage Information Return: used to report to the IRS summary information for each employer and to transmit Forms 1095-C to the IRS.
• Form 1095-C, Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage: used to report required information to your employees and to report information about each employee to the IRS.

What Are The Due Dates For Reporting?

• Forms 1095-C must be provided to your employees by February 1, 2016.
• Forms 1094-C and 1095-C are due to the IRS by February 29, 2016, if filing on paper, or March 31, 2016, if filing electronically.

More Information

For more information, see our questions and answers about Reporting of Offers of Health Insurance Coverage by Employers on IRS.gov/aca.

WASHINGTON —The Internal Revenue Service today simplified the paperwork and recordkeeping requirements for small businesses by raising from $500 to $2,500 the safe harbor threshold for deducting certain capital items.

The change affects businesses that do not maintain an applicable financial statement (audited financial statement). It applies to amounts spent to acquire, produce or improve tangible property that would normally qualify as a capital item.

The new $2,500 threshold applies to any such item substantiated by an invoice. As a result, small businesses will be able to immediately deduct many expenditures that would otherwise need to be spread over a period of years through annual depreciation deductions.

“We received many thoughtful comments from taxpayers, their representatives and the professional tax community, said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. “This important step simplifies taxes for small businesses, easing the recordkeeping and paperwork burden on small business owners and their tax preparers.“

Responding to a February comment request, the IRS received more than 150 letters from businesses and their representatives suggesting an increase in the threshold. Commenters noted that the existing $500 threshold was too low to effectively reduce administrative burden on small business. Moreover, the cost of many commonly expensed items such as tablet-style personal computers, smart phones, and machinery and equipment parts typically surpass the $500 threshold.

As before, businesses can still claim otherwise deductible repair and maintenance costs, even if they exceed the $2,500 threshold.

The new $2,500 threshold takes effect starting with tax year 2016. In addition, the IRS will provide audit protection to eligible businesses by not challenging use of the new $2,500 threshold in tax years prior to 2016.

For taxpayers with an applicable financial statement, the de minimis or small-dollar threshold remains $5,000.

Further details on this change can be found in Notice 2015-82, posted today on IRS.gov.

It has come to our attention that an email is being issued to tax preparers asking them to update their e-Services information. The link provided in the email to access e-Services appears to be a phishing scam to capture e-Services usernames and passwords. Additionally, some tax preparers have received scam telephone calls, again attempting to capture e-Services usernames and passwords.

If you receive an email like this, do not click on the link and ignore the phone calls.  If you mistakenly clicked on the link, please call the IRS e-help Desk using this toll free number for help. Scam calls should be ignored and reported to the Federal Trade Commission.

Remind your clients that it’s now the time to begin planning to take full advantage of their employer’s health flexible spending arrangement (FSA) during 2016.

The IRS and certain payroll service providers are partnering to test a new Verification Code that will help validate data on the Form W-2. The Verification Code, if present on the Form W-2, should be entered on the electronic return when prompted by the software.

Have you renewed your Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) for 2016? All current PTINs will expire Dec. 31, 2015.

WASHINGTON— The Internal Revenue Service today reminded non-credentialed tax return preparers of major upcoming changes regarding which tax return preparers can represent clients in matters before the IRS beginning in 2016, and take action by Dec. 31, 2015, to avoid being affected.

The IRS also announced that federal tax return preparers will soon pay less for a preparer tax identification number (PTIN).

Last year the IRS announced pending changes to limited practice authorities for non-credentialed tax return preparers. (Rev. Proc. 2014-42)

Effective for tax returns and claims for refunds prepared and signed after Dec. 31, 2015, the limited right to represent clients before the IRS held by non-credentialed preparers will be accorded to only those preparers participating in the IRS Annual Filing Season Program, a voluntary continuing education (CE) program.   The changes in the limited representation rules have no impact on returns prepared and signed by non-credentialed preparers on or before Dec. 31, 2015.

Non-credentialed tax return preparers who participate in the Annual Filing Season Program will continue to have limited rights to represent clients. This enables them to represent taxpayers whose returns they prepared and signed, but only before revenue agents, customer service representatives, and similar IRS employees, including the Taxpayer Advocate Service. The tax return preparer must participate in the Annual Filing Season Program for both the year of return preparation and the year of representation to represent their client.

There are no changes to representation rules for enrolled agents, certified public accountants, and attorneys. These tax professionals continue to have unlimited practice rights and can represent any taxpayer before any IRS office, including collection and appeals, regardless of whether they prepared the tax return in question.  

To participate in the Annual Filing Season Program, non-credentialed tax return preparers must complete either 15 or 18 hours of continuing education from IRS-approved CE providers. The CE must be completed by Dec. 31, 2015, in order to receive a 2016 Annual Filing Season Program Record of Completion.

More information about Annual Filing Season Program requirements is available on IRS.gov.

PTIN Fee Revised

Effective Nov. 1, 2015, the annual fee for 2016 PTINs will be $50 for both new applications and renewals. The IRS will collect $33 as a user fee to support program costs and a third-party vendor will receive $17 to operate the online system and provide customer support.

In preparation for the fee change, PTIN open season, which normally begins in mid-October, will begin in early November. PTIN open season is when the IRS begins accepting renewals and new registrations for the upcoming year.

Federal agencies are required to review user fees every other year and make adjustments as appropriate. The current PTIN fee is $64.25 for a new registration and $63 for renewal.

More information about the updated user fee is available in TD 9742 and REG-121496-15.

 

Viewers can also download the PowerPoint presentation from the recent rebroadcast of the Payments to Independent Contractors webinar.

Related link:

• FS-2015-21, Payments to Independent Contractors

The Small Business Health Care Tax Credit Estimator can help employers determine if they’re eligible for the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit this year and how much credit they might receive.

The new IRS.gov Penalties at a Glance page has information taxpayers can use to learn about penalty relief and determine if they qualify for penalty abatement.