ACA (Affordable Care Act) Data Export allows you to create an Excel spreadsheet that can be imported into Greenshades or used manually to complete ACA Government Reporting (Form 1095B or 1095C).

NOTE: Both the 1095-B and 1095-C exports will only select employees with a posted timesheet with ACA payroll hours in the selected year and corporation when the "All Working Employees" option is selected. Employees with only bill-only timesheets will not be selected.

You must have "Create ACA Data Export" title security permission to perform the export.

The ACA Data Export creates an Excel (.xls) spreadsheet in multiple worksheet template format. The spreadsheet is called "ACA1095B-<ProcessID>" or "ACA1095C-<ProcessID> depending on the form requested. It is saved in the same location as quarterly and annual submission files.

Non-hosted clients (Enterprise systems) manually copy the spreadsheet from the output folder. Hosted clients will receive an email with the spreadsheet file attached.

The spreadsheet can be edited and saved into any location you choose.

For more information on the ACA Data Export, including explanations of how StaffSuite determines the information placed in lines 14 through 16 of the 1095-C form, please see the StaffSuite Affordable Care Act Guide.

Exporting ACA Data

1. In the Report Year field, enter the year for which you are reporting ACA data (e.g. 2015).

2. In the Corporation field, use to select the corporation for which you are exporting ACA data. This defaults to the corporation associated to the user's home branch, but can be changed. You can also select <Combined Corporations> in this field. This causes Employees with multiple corporations to have the Corporations combined during the Data Export Process.

3. In the Employees field, use to select All Working Employees, Eligible or Eligible + Offered. All Working Employees selects all employees with a posted timesheet dated within the Report Year and associated to the selected Corporation (or one of the Corporations if <Combined Corp> is selected). Eligible selects only those employees with either a current or archived record that overlaps the Report Year and were calculated by the ACA Process as being eligible during that stability period. Eligible + Offered selects those employees with either a current or archived record that overlaps the Report Year and were calculated by the ACA Process as being eligible during that stability period OR those who have received an offer of coverage activity within the year and corporation selected.

4. In the Forms Type field, use to select 1095-B or 1095-C.depending on the form for which you want to export data.

5. In the Line 16 Safe Harbor field, select the Safe Harbor method (if any) that you plan to use. This option helps determine the contents of Line 16 on the 1095C form.

NOTE: Safe Harbors are not required under the Affordable Care Act.

The IRS offers three Safe Harbors under the Affordable Care Act: W2 Wages, Rate of Pay and Federal Poverty. W2 Wages is typically used by employers with full-time employees who regularly work 40 hours a week and whose compensation is unlikely to decrease during the year. Rate of Pay is typically used by employers with hourly employees. Federal Poverty is typically used by employers with seasonal employees or that use a look-back measurement period to determine if variable/seasonal employees have full-time status.

To use the W2 Wages Safe Harbor, select Form W-2.

To use the Rate of Pay Safe Harbor, select Rate of Pay.

To use the Federal Poverty Safe Harbor, select Federal Poverty Line.

If you choose not to use or are not qualified to use Safe Harbors, select <None>.

NOTE: Please see below for an explanation of the way Safe Harbor Codes are determined. Codes 2A through 2D are calculated based on Healthcare Activities. Codes 2F through 2H are based on your selections above and are ONLY used if codes 2A, 2B, 2C and 2D do not apply.

6. The 1094-C Authoritative Transmittal checkbox is not currently used. Checking it or leaving it unchecked does not impact the exported data.

7. Check the Member of Aggregated ALE Group to collect the Corporation Name and EIN of all active corporations other than the one selected in the Corporation field.

8. When you are satisfied with the information you have entered, click Process.

9. The Process ID displays in the Process Id field and the Progress bar alerts you to the completion percentage of the export.

Determining Safe Harbor Codes

Determining Safe Harbor Codes is a complex, but logical process. The following provides a step-by-step look at how Safe Harbor Codes are determined by StaffSuite.

NOTE: Keep in mind that you may edit any Safe Harbor Code determined by StaffSuite on the Export spreadsheet.

1.     System checks to see if the Employee field on the ACA Export has either “Eligible” or “Eligible + Offered” selected. If it is not, all cells in this area default to blank. If either “Eligible” or “Eligible + Offered” is selected, go to step 2.

2.     System checks to see if any ACA applicable wages were paid to the employee at any time during the month. If no ACA applicable wages were paid during the month, the code “2A” is placed in the appropriate month’s cell. For example, if the employee was not paid any ACA applicable wages in October, the cell for the employee’s row in the SafeHarborCodeOct column would have “2A” as its contents. If the employee was paid ANY ACA applicable wages during the month, go to step 3.

NOTE:  IRS requirements specify that if the employee was terminated during the month, the 2A code should not be used. Due to the rarity of the occurrence and to improve performance, StaffSuite does not make any specific check as to whether an employee was terminated. If the employee was not paid ACA applicable wages during the same month that they were terminated, then you should remove the 2A code from the cell and enter an applicable code (see the steps below to determine the applicable code). Again, this only applies if the employee received no ACA applicable wages during the SAME month that he/she was terminated.

3.     System checks to see if the month has an associated Coverage Code of “1G”. If it is 1G, go to step 7. If it is not 1G, go to step 4.

4.     System checks the Coverage Begin Date of the most recent Healthcare – Accept activity. If it is on or before the first date of the month, go to step 5. If it is not, go to step 7.

5.     System checks if the code used for the Healthcare – Accept activity has the character string “(MEC)” in the Code Description. If it does, go to step 6. If it does not, go to step 7.

6.     System checks the Coverage End Date of the most recent Healthcare – Cancel activity (if any). If the End Date occurs after the Coverage Begin Date found by Step 4 AND occurs before the end of the current month, go to step 7. If either of the above conditions are not true (or if there is no Cancel activity), the code “2C” is placed in the appropriate month’s cell.

NOTE: The code “2C” basically specifies that the employee was covered by an MEC plan for the entirety of the month.

7.     System checks to see if the month begin checked falls between the employee’s measurement period begin date and the administrative period end date. If it does, go to step 8. If it does not, go to step 9.

8.     System checks to see if the employee’s administrative status (on their ACA record) is “New”. If it is, the code “2D” is placed in the appropriate month’s cell. If it is not, go to step 9.

NOTE: The code “2D” basically specifies that the employee was in his/her limited non-assessment period during the month.

9.     System retrieves the most recent ACA record (Current or Archived) where the associated month is in the stability period. If one exists, go to step 10. If one does not exist, go to step 11.

10.  System checks to see if the ACA record shows an Eligibility Status of “Not Eligible”. If it does, go to step 11. If it does not, go to step 15.

11.  System checks to see if the employee has a Healthcare – Accept or Healthcare – Cancel activity in the current reporting year or the previous calendar year. If the employee does have one of these activities, go to step 12. If the employee does not have one of these activities, the code “2B” is placed in the appropriate month’s cell.

12.  System checks the most recent Accept or Cancel activity for the associated month. If the most recent activity was Healthcare – Accept, go to step 13. If the most recent activity was NOT Healthcare – Accept, the code “2B” is placed in the appropriate month’s cell.

13.  System checks if the Coverage Begin Date associated with the most recent Healthcare – Accept activity is on or before the 1^st of the associated month. If it is, go to step 14. If it is NOT, the code “2B” is placed in the appropriate month’s cell.

14.  System checks if the Healthcare – Accept Reasons code associated with the Accept activity found in Step 12 has the character string “(MEC)” in the Code Description. If it does, go to step 20. If it does not, the code “2B” is placed in the appropriate month’s cell.

15.  System checks if the Eligibility Status of the most recent healthcare record for the employee is “Eligible”. If it is, go to step 16. If it is not, go to step 20.

16.  System checks to see if the employee has a Healthcare – Accept or Healthcare – Cancel activity in the current reporting year or the previous calendar year. If the employee does have one of these activities, go to step 17. If the employee does not have one of these activities, go to step 20.

17.  System checks the most recent Accept or Cancel activity for the associated month. If the most recent activity was Healthcare – Cancel, go to step 18. If the most recent activity was NOT Healthcare – Cancel, go to step 20.

18.  System checks if the Coverage End Date of the most recent Cancel activity is in the associated month. If it is, go to step 19. If it is not, go to step 20.

19.  System checks if the Healthcare – Cancel Reasons code used with the Cancel activity has the character string “(Terminated)” in the Code Description. If it does, the code “2B” is placed in the appropriate month’s cell. If it does not, go to step 20.

20.  System checks the ACA Export to see what, if anything, was selected in the Line 16 Safe Harbor field. If “Form W-2” was selected, go to step 21. If “Federal Poverty Line” or “Rate of Pay” was selected, go to step 25. If “None” was selected, cell content is left “as is” and safe harbor determination is complete.

21.  System checks to see if the Safe Harbor Code for ALL months (January through December) is blank on the employee’s row. If all cells are blank, go to step 22. If all cells are not blank, then cell content is left “as is” and safe harbor determination is complete.

22.  System retrieves the most recent Accept, Offer or Decline activity from the previous calendar year. If the most recent activity is a Decline with a Decline Date before January 1^st of the current reporting year, the code “2F” is entered in the SafeHarborCodeAll12Months column and safe harbor determination is complete. If this is not the case, go to step 23.

23.  System checks to see if the most recent activity determined by step 22 is an Offer activity with a Coverage Begin Date before January 1^st of the current reporting year. If it is, go to step 24. If it is not, then cell content is left “as is” and safe harbor determination is complete.

24.  System checks to see if the employee has an Accept or Decline activity AFTER the last Offer activity AND before January 1^st of the current reporting year. If an Accept or Decline activity meets this criteria, then cell content is left “as is” and safe harbor determination is complete. Otherwise, the code “2F” is entered in the SafeHarborCodeAll12Months column and safe harbor determination is complete.

25.  System checks to see if the safe harbor code for the month is blank. If it is, go to step 26. If it is not, cell content is left “as is” and safe harbor determination is complete.

26.  System retrieves the most recent Accept, Offer or Decline activity for the month being determined. If the most recent activity is a Decline with a Decline Date on or before the end of the month being determined, the code “2G” is used for the month being determined IF the option “Federal Poverty Line” was selected and code “2H” is used for the month being determined IF the option “Rate of Pay” was selected (safe harbor determination is complete). If this is not the case, go to step 27.

27.  System checks to see if the most recent activity determined by step 26 is an Offer activity with a Coverage Begin Date before the 1^st of the month being determined. If it is, go to step 28. If it is not, then cell content is left “as is” and safe harbor determination is complete.

28.  System checks to see if the employee has an Accept or Decline activity AFTER the last Offer activity that are in effect for the month being determined. If an Accept or Decline activity meets this criteria, then cell content is left “as is” and safe harbor determination is complete. Otherwise, the code “2G” is used for the month being determined IF the option “Federal Poverty Line” was selected and code “2H” is used for the month being determined IF the option “Rate of Pay” was selected (safe harbor determination is complete).

Related Topics: