ACA Reporting

Again this year, as part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), large employers like Dartmouth are required to report information to the government about your health insurance coverage and also provide 1095 tax forms to certain individuals.

About Reporting

The reporting tells the IRS if an offer of Minimum Essential Coverage (MEC) was made to full-time employees, if that coverage meets Minimum Value (MV) and if it is affordable in the eyes of the ACA. The reporting also provides proof of coverage for individuals for the Individual Mandate.

We have compiled the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) list below outlining who will receive a form, when it will be sent and what information is included in it. The full FAQ can be found below.

ACA Reporting Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Do I need a Form 1095 to file my 2023 tax return?

As communicated by the IRS, the 1095 forms will not be required to file your individual tax return, however the information provided on them may be helpful to you.

What is a Form 1095-C?

Form 1095-C contains detailed information about the health insurance coverage offered to you and your dependents by Dartmouth.

Who will be receiving a 1095 form from Dartmouth?

Form 1095-C
The ACA defines full-time (FT) employees as those who work an average of 30 hours or more per week.

  • All individuals who were a FT employee for at least 1 month in the calendar year will receive a Form 1095-C. This includes:
    • FT employees who enrolled in coverage
    • FT employees who waived coverage
    • FT employees who may not have been made an offer of coverage (e.g. temporary employees who worked 30+ hours/week)
  • All part-time employees (those working less than 30 hours per week) who were enrolled in Dartmouth's plan in 2023 will receive a 1095-C.
    • Note: If you worked less than an average of 30 hours/week for the entire calendar year, and waived coverage, you will not receive a 1095-C.
  • COBRA participants
  • Individuals who were active employees for part of the year and a non-employee for part of the year.


Form 1095-B

  • Individuals who were non-employees for the full 12 months and enrolled in a Dartmouth medical plan will receive a 1095-B. This includes retirees under 65 years old. 

Medicare


When/how will I receive the form?

For the 2023 reporting, we will be using bswift to produce and mail the forms to individuals. The forms will also be posted in the Employee File section of the FlexOnline Portal.

Forms will be mailed directly to individuals' legal mailing address the week of February 5th, 2024 and should be received the week of February 12th, 2024. Dartmouth is required to provide the 1095 forms to employees by March 1, 2024. The return address will be Dartmouth.

What if I live in a state that has an individual reporting mandate deadline that is earlier? 

Bswift monitors all state reporting deadlines. For 2023 reporting, bswift will mail the 1095 forms to employees in California and Rhode Island the week of January 22nd, 2024 to ensure compliance with the January 31st, 2024 deadlines. These forms will also be posted on the Employee File in the FlexOnline Portal.

What do I need to do with my form?

You do not need to submit a copy of your Form 1095-C with your federal tax return, however we recommend that you keep the form with your 2023 tax documents.

Depending on what state you reside in, you may need the 1095 form for state tax filing purposes. 

What information is on Form 1095-C?

There are three parts to the form:

  1. Part I (Lines 1-13) includes information about you and your employer.
  2. Part II (Lines 14-16) reports information about the coverage offered to you by Dartmouth, the affordability of the coverage offered, and the reason why you were or were not offered coverage.
  3. Part III (Lines 17-22) reports information about the individuals covered under your plan.

 

What do the 1095-C Part II codes mean?

Line 14 - reflects whether an offer of coverage was made to the employee and describes the plan offered (for example, all Dartmouth plans exceed the Minimum Value). There are several codes that indicate an offer of coverage was made in the applicable month (1E, 1G). 1H indicates a month in which no offer of coverage was made.

Line 15 - reflects the monthly employee-only contribution to the lowest cost plan (Cigna High Deductible Health Plan/HDHP in most cases). This amount does not necessarily reflect the plan or tier in which you were actually enrolled. For some individuals, for example those with a 1H in line 14, this row will be blank.

Line 16 – For any month in which you were enrolled in coverage, line 16 will be 2C. There are other codes which indicate that you were not an employee (2A), you were not a full-time employee (2B) or you waived coverage but the coverage you were offered was affordable (2H) For some individuals who waived coverage, this line may be blank.

Changes from prior years:

When comparing your form with prior years forms, you may find there are some differences in how Part II of the 1095-C is populated. 

Prior to tax year 2022:

Line 14 - In past years, you may have had a 1A in row 14. Bswift will not be generating the 1A code. Instead, they will be using a 1E. Both 1A and 1E mean that Dartmouth has offered Minimum Essential Coverage (MEC) meeting Minimum Value (MV) to you, and at least MEC offered to dependent(s) and spouse.

Line 15 – If you had a 1A code in line 14, line 15 would have been left blank. With the use of code 1E in row 14, bswift must enter a monthly employee-only contribution to the lowest cost plan (Cigna High Deductible Health Plan/HDHP in most cases). 

Line 16 – If you waived coverage, you may have seen 2G in line 15. Moving forward, you will likely see a 2H. Both 2G and 2H indicate that the coverage offered was affordable.  

Lines 14-16 – The “All 12 months” box was not previously used and a value was entered for each month instead. Bswift utilizes the “All 12 months” box. For example, if you were a FT employee who was offered and enrolled in Dartmouth coverage for all of 2023, you will see the following in the “All 12 month boxes”: 

Line 14: 1E

Line 15: $ amount representing EE only contribution to the HDHP, adjusted for your salary and FTE

Line 16: 2C 

The January – December boxes for all 3 lines will be blank. 

Who should be included in Part III of the 1095-C?

Part III will only be completed for individuals who enrolled in coverage. This section shows the months in which an employee, and any covered dependents were enrolled in the calendar year. It may not be the same for all covered dependents (for example, an employee is covered all 12 months and adds their spouse effective July – December).

Note: Bswift will also use the “Covered all 12 months” box in Part III. This is a change from prior years where each individual month was checked off even if covered for the full year. 

Who do I call if I have questions or need a reprint?

If you have questions about your form, or need a reprint, please contact the Dartmouth Human Resources Benefits Office at 603-646-3588.

It is important that you review your forms as soon as possible and contact the Benefits office if you think you need a correction.

Where can I get my W-2 tax form?

All current and former employees can access, download, and print their W-2 using Payroll's online Employee Self Service (ESS) portal. This system also allows you to update your federal W-4, enroll in Direct Deposit and paperless paystubs. You can view ALL of your current and previous W-2 and paystubs. W-2 forms are available online as of January 31.

Any questions related to your W-2 tax form should be directed to the Dartmouth Payroll Office at 603-646-2697 or Dartmouth.Payroll@dartmouth.edu.

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