The IRS has extended the due dates for the 2015 information reporting requirements under the Affordable Care Act for insurance companies, self-insuring employers, and certain other providers of minimum essential coverage. However, no relief from personal reporting was granted, meaning that individuals may have to file their 2015 tax returns based on what information (statements, print-outs, etc.) they might have rather than officially filed and distributed forms.

In question are Form 1095-B and Form 1095-C. These forms contain key information that individuals need to determine their tax liability and/or credit under the Affordable Care Act. Prior to this IRS action, employers and others were required to make these forms available by February 1, 2016. The result would have been that around the end of January most employees would receive both a Form W2, (which they are very familiar with) plus either a Form 1095-B or a Form 1095-C. With this IRS extension, employers and other required entities do not need to make either of these two forms available until March 31, 2016. This means that individuals, unless they file late in the tax season, will have to complete their returns without this key information.

To somewhat protect such individual tax return filers, for 2015 tax year only, they can rely upon other information received from employers, insurance companies and the marketplace in order to determine their eligibility for the premium tax credit/tax penalty when filing their income tax returns. The individuals should keep such documentation (they do not send it in with their tax returns) since, if the information they use varies from the information sent to the IRS base on the forms they receive at the end of March, they may need to prove they reasonably relied on valid sources when preparing their tax returns.

If you have any concerns about your own personal situation, we urge you to seek out competent counsel.