II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1996 

To streamline the employer reporting process and strengthen the eligibility 

verification process for the premium assistance tax credit and costsharing subsidy. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 5, 2015 

Mr. WARNER (for himself and Mr. PORTMAN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To streamline the employer reporting process and strengthen 

the eligibility verification process for the premium assistance tax credit and cost-sharing subsidy. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Commonsense Report5 ing Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The Department of the Treasury and the 

9 Internal Revenue Service should work together with 


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1 other relevant departments and agencies to identify 

2 and implement methods to minimize compliance bur3 dens on businesses, insurance carriers, and individ4 uals. 

5 (2) Such collaboration should strike an appro6 priate balance between sufficient reporting to en7 force the law and protecting the privacy of individ8 uals. 

9 SEC. 3. VOLUNTARY PROSPECTIVE REPORTING SYSTEM. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

11 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the 

12 Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and 

13 Human Services, the Secretary of Labor, and the Admin14 istrator of the Small Business Administration, shall de15 velop and implement guidance providing for a prospective 

16 reporting system meeting the requirements of subsection 

17 (b). Such system shall be available for use by employers 

18 on a voluntary basis beginning not later than January 1, 

19 2017. 

20 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—The system created under sub21 section (a) shall include— 

22 (1) voluntary reporting by each participating 

23 employer, not later than 45 days before the first day 

24 of the annual open enrollment period under section 

25 1311(c)(6)(B) of the Patient Protection and AffordVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:31 Aug 13, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1996.IS S1996

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1 able Care Act (42 U.S.C. 18031(c)(6)(B)) for each 

2 calendar year, of— 

3 (A) the name and employer identification 

4 number of the employer; 

5 (B) a certification of— 

6 (i) whether coverage meeting the defi7 nition of minimum essential coverage in 

8 section 5000A(f) of the Internal Revenue 

9 Code of 1986 is offered to the full-time 

10 employees (within the meaning of section 

11 4980H of such Code) of the employer; 

12 (ii) whether such coverage is offered 

13 to part-time employees of the employer; 

14 (iii) whether such coverage is offered 

15 to dependents of employees; 

16 (iv) whether such coverage is offered 

17 to spouses of employees; 

18 (v) whether such coverage meets the 

19 minimum value requirement of section 

20 36B(c)(2)(C)(ii) of such Code; 

21 (vi) whether such coverage satisfies 

22 the requirements to qualify for one of the 

23 affordability safe harbors promulgated by 

24 the Secretary of the Treasury for purposes 

25 of section 4980H of such Code; and 


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1 (vii) whether the employer reasonably 

2 expects to be liable for any shared respon3 sibility payment under section 4980H of 

4 such Code for such year; 

5 (C) the months during the prospective re6 porting period that such coverage is available to 

7 individuals described in clauses (i) through (iv) 

8 of subparagraph (B); and 

9 (D) what waiting periods, if any, apply 

10 with respect to such coverage; 

11 (2) processes necessary to ensure that Ex12 changes, the Federal Marketplace Data Services 

13 Hub, and the Internal Revenue Service can securely 

14 and confidentially access the information described 

15 in paragraph (1) as necessary to carry out their re16 spective missions, and to provide to the Secretary of 

17 Health and Human Services additional information 

18 relating to eligibility determinations for advance pay19 ment of the premium tax credits under section 36B 

20 of such Code and the cost-sharing subsidies under 

21 section 1402 of the Patient Protection and Afford22 able Care Act (42 U.S.C. 18071); 

23 (3) a process to allow Exchanges to follow up 

24 with employers in order to obtain additional reason25 ably necessary information relating to an employee’s 


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1 eligibility for such advance payment or such cost2 sharing subsidies, and to allow an employee to re3 ceive notification of any problem in verifying such 

4 eligibility; and 

5 (4) a process to allow employers using the sys6 tem to provide timely updates to the Federal Mar7 ketplace Data Services Hub regarding any cancella8 tion of coverage or significant change in coverage for 

9 participating employees that would change the infor10 mation reported under paragraph (1). 

11 (c) EMPLOYER NOTIFICATION OF EMPLOYEE EN12 ROLLMENT IN EXCHANGE PLANS.—Subparagraph (J) of 

13 section 1311(d)(4) of the Patient Protection and Afford14 able Care Act (42 U.S.C. 18031(d)(4)(J)) is amended by 

15 striking ‘‘to each employer’’ and all that follows and in16 serting ‘‘to each employer— 

17 ‘‘(i) the name of each employee of the 

18 employer who enrolls in a qualified health 

19 plan for a plan year, or whose dependents 

20 enroll in such a plan, at the time of such 

21 enrollment; or 

22 ‘‘(ii) the name of each employee of the 

23 employer described in subparagraph (I)(ii) 

24 who ceases coverage under a qualified 


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1 health plan during a plan year (and the ef2 fective date of such cessation); and’’. 

3 (d) EXEMPTION FROM REPORTING REQUIREMENT

4 UNDER INTERNAL REVENUE CODE OF 1986.—Section 

5 6056 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended 

6 by redesignating subsection (f) as subsection (g) and by 

7 inserting after subsection (e) the following new subsection: 

8 ‘‘(f) EXEMPTION.—If, through the system created 

9 under section 3(a) of the Commonsense Reporting Act of 

10 2015, an employer provides prospective reporting for any 

11 calendar year that meets the requirements of section 

12 3(b)(1) of such Act— 

13 ‘‘(1) such employer shall be treated as satis14 fying the return requirements of subsections (a) and 

15 (b) for such year; and 

16 ‘‘(2) such employer shall be treated as satis17 fying the requirements of subsection (c) for such 

18 year if the employer— 

19 ‘‘(A) furnishes the statement described in 

20 such section to those employees of the employer 

21 whose names have been provided to the em22 ployer by an Exchange under section 

23 1311(d)(4)(J)(i) of the Patient Protection and 

24 Affordable Care Act regarding enrollment of the 

25 employee or a dependent in a qualified health 


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1 plan (as defined in section 1301 of such Act) 

2 through the Exchange; and 

3 ‘‘(B) furnishes a copy of such statement 

4 with respect to such employees to the Sec5 retary.’’. 

6 (e) THIRD-PARTY FILING.—An employer may con7 tract with a third party to make the report under sub8 section (b)(1) without affecting the employer’s treatment 

9 as having satisfied the return requirements of subsections 

10 (a) and (b) of section 6056 of the Internal Revenue Code 

11 of 1986. 

12 (f) ACCESS TO THE NATIONAL DIRECTORY OF NEW

13 HIRES.—Subsection (i)(3) of section 453 of the Social Se14 curity Act (42 U.S.C. 653) is amended by adding at the 

15 end the following new sentence: ‘‘The Secretary of the 

16 Treasury and the Secretary of Health and Human Serv17 ices shall have access to the information in the National 

18 Directory of New Hires for purposes of administering sec19 tion 36B and 4980H of the Internal Revenue Code of 

20 1986 and section 1402 of the Patient Protection and Af21 fordable Care Act (42 U.S.C. 18071). Subsection (k)(3) 

22 shall not apply to information received for purposes of the 

23 administration of such sections 36B and 4980H of such 

24 Code and section 1402 of such Act.’’. 


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1 (g) IMPROVING EMPLOYEE ACCESS TO ACCURATE

2 EINS.—Not later than 1 year after the date of the enact3 ment of this Act, the Secretary of the Treasury shall de4 velop and implement guidance for allowing any employee 

5 of an employer to receive, on request, the employer’s em6 ployer identification number for purposes of section 6056 

7 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 

8 (h) FUNDING FOR VOLUNTARY PROSPECTIVE RE9 PORTING SYSTEM.—It is the sense of Congress that build10 ing and maintaining the voluntary prospective reporting 

11 system described in this section will require appropriations 

12 to the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Health 

13 and Human Services, the Secretary of Labor, and the Ad14 ministrator of the Small Business Administration, and 

15 that necessary sums to carry out the requirements of this 

16 section should be appropriated for such purpose. 

17 SEC. 4. PROTECTION OF DEPENDENT PRIVACY. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (1) of section 6055(b) 

19 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by add20 ing at the end the following flush sentence: 

21 ‘‘For purposes of subparagraph (B)(i), in the case of 

22 an individual other than the primary insured, if the 

23 health insurance issuer or the employer is unable to 

24 collect or maintain information on the TINs of such 

25 individuals (other than for purposes of this section), 


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1 the Secretary may allow the individual’s full name 

2 and date of birth to be substituted for the name and 

3 TIN. In the event the Secretary allows the use of 

4 the individual’s full name and date of birth in lieu 

5 of the TIN, the Social Security Administration shall 

6 assist the Internal Revenue Service in providing data 

7 matches to determine the TIN associated with the 

8 name and date of birth provided by the Internal 

9 Revenue Service with respect to such individual.’’. 

10 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

11 this section shall apply to returns the due date for which 

12 is after the date that is 60 days after the date of the enact13 ment of this Act. 

14 SEC. 5. ELECTRONIC STATEMENTS. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (c) of section 6056 of 

16 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding 

17 at the end the following flush sentence: 

18 ‘‘An individual shall be deemed to have consented to re19 ceive the statement under this section in electronic form 

20 if such individual has affirmatively consented at any prior 

21 time, to the person who is the employer of the individual 

22 during the calendar year to which the statement relates, 

23 to receive such statement in electronic form. The pre24 ceding sentence shall not apply if the individual revokes 


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1 consent in writing with respect to the statement under this 

2 section.’’. 

3 (b) STATEMENTS RELATING TO HEALTH INSURANCE

4 COVERAGE.—Subsection (c) of section 6055 of the Inter5 nal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the 

6 end the following new paragraph: 

7 ‘‘(3) ELECTRONIC DELIVERY.—An individual 

8 shall be deemed to have consented to receive the 

9 statement under this subsection in electronic form if 

10 such individual has affirmatively consented at any 

11 prior time, to the person required to make such 

12 statement (such as the provider of the individual’s 

13 health coverage), to receive in electronic form any 

14 private health information (such as electronic health 

15 records), unless the individual revokes such consent 

16 in writing.’’. 

17 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

18 this section shall apply to statements the due date for 

19 which is after December 31, 2015. 

20 SEC. 6. GAO STUDIES. 

21 (a) STUDY OF PROSPECTIVE REPORTING SYSTEM.— 

22 Not later than July 1, 2018, the Comptroller General of 

23 the United States shall conduct a study evaluating, with 

24 respect to the period beginning on January 1, 2017, and 

25 ending on December 31, 2017, the functionality of the 


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1 prospective reporting system established under section 3 

2 of this Act, including the accuracy of information col3 lected, the number of employers electing to report under 

4 such system, and any challenges that have arisen. 

5 (b) REPORT.—The results of the study under sub6 section (a) shall be reported to the Committees on Finance 

7 and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate 

8 and the Committees on Ways and Means, Energy and 

9 Commerce, and Education and the Workforce of the 

10 House of Representatives. 

Æ 


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