Source: http://www.cimplxaca.com/aca-terminology/
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 22:24:39+00:00

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An Aggregated ALE Group refers to a group of ALE Members treated as a single employer under section 414(b), 414(c), 414(m), or 414(o). An ALE Member is a member of an Aggregated ALE Group for a month if it is treated as a single employer with the other members of the group on any day of the calendar month. If an ALE is made up of only one person or entity, that one ALE Member is not a part of an Aggregated ALE Group. Government entities and churches or conventions or associations of churches may apply a reasonable, good faith interpretation of the aggregation rules under section 414 in determining their status as an ALE or member of an Aggregated ALE Group.
An ALE is, for a particular calendar year, any single employer, or group of employers treated as an Aggregated ALE Group, that employed an average of at least 50 full-time employees (including full-time equivalent employees) on business days during the preceding calendar year. A new employer (that is, an employer that was not in existence on any business day in the prior calendar year) is an ALE for the current calendar year if it reasonably expects to employ, and actually does employ, an average of at least 50 full-time employees (including full-time equivalent employees) on business days during the current calendar year.
Applicable Large Employer has the same meaning as in section 4980H(c)(2) and § 54.4980H–1(a)(4).
An ALE Member is a single person or entity that is an ALE, or if applicable, each person or entity that is a member of an Aggregated ALE Group. A person or entity that does not have employees or only has employees with no hours of service (for example, only employees whose entire service consists of work outside of the United States that does not count as hours of service under section 4980H) is not an ALE Member.
Applicable Large Employer Member has the same meaning as in § 54.4980H–1(a)(5). All persons treated as a single employer under section 414(b), (c), (m), or (o) are treated as one employer for purposes of determining applicable large employer status. Under these regulations, the section 6056 filing and furnishing requirements are applied separately to each person comprising the applicable large employer consistent with the approach taken in the section 4980H regulations with respect to the determination of any assessable payment under section 4980H. The person or persons that comprise the applicable large employer are referred to as applicable large employer members (and referred to elsewhere in this preamble as ALE members).
A bona fide volunteer is an employee of a government entity or tax-exempt organization whose only compensation from that entity or organization is (1) reimbursement for (or reasonable allowance for) reasonable expenses incurred in the performance of services by volunteers, or (2) reasonable benefits (including length of service awards), and nominal fees, customarily paid by similar entities in connection with the performance of services by volunteers.
A dependent is an employee’s child, including a child who has been legally adopted or legally placed for adoption with the employee, who has not reached age 26. A child reaches age 26 on the 26th anniversary of the date the child was born and is treated as a dependent for the entire calendar month during which he or she reaches age 26. For this purpose, a dependent does not include stepchildren, foster children, or a child that does not reside in the United States (or a country contiguous to the United States) and who is not a United States citizen or national. For this purpose, a dependent does not include a spouse.
Dependent has the same meaning as in § 54.4980H–1(a)(12).
A DGE is a person or persons that are part of or related to the Governmental Unit that is the ALE Member and that is appropriately designated for purposes of these reporting requirements. In the case of a Governmental Unit that has delegated some or all of its reporting responsibilities to a DGE with respect to some or all of its employees, one Authoritative Transmittal must still be filed for that Governmental Unit reporting aggregate employer-level data for all employees of the Governmental Unit (including those for whom the Governmental Unit has delegated its reporting responsibilities). For more information, see the section entitled Authoritative Transmittal for Employers Filing Multiple Forms 1094-C.
Whether an employer is an ALE is determined each calendar year, and generally depends on the average size of an employer’s workforce during the prior year. If an employer has fewer than 50 full-time employees, including full-time equivalent employees, on average during the prior year, the employer is not an ALE for the current calendar year. Therefore, the employer is not subject to the employer shared responsibility provisions or the employer information reporting provisions for the current year. Employers who are not ALEs may be eligible for the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit.
Company X has 40 full-time employees for each calendar month during 2016.
Company X also has 15 part-time employees for each calendar month during 2016 each of whom have 60 hours of service per month.
Dividing the combined hours of service of the part-time employees by 120 equals 7.5 [900 / 120 = 7.5]. This number, 7.5, represents the number of Company X’s full-time-equivalent employees for each month during 2016.
Employer X adds up the total number of full-time employees for each calendar month of 2016, which is 480 [40 x 12 = 480].
Employer X adds up the total number of full-time equivalent employees for each calendar month of 2016, which is 90 [7.5 x 12 = 90].
So, although Company X has 55 employees in total [40 full-time and 15 part-time] for each month of 2016, it has 47 full-time employees (including full-time equivalent employees) for purposes of ALE determination.
Because 47 is less than 50, Company X is not an ALE for 2017.
Company Y has 40 full-time employees for each calendar month during 2016.
Company Y also has 20 part-time employees for each calendar month during 2016, each of whom has 60 hours of service per month.
Dividing the combined hours of service of the part-time employees by 120 equals 10 [1,200 / 120 = 10]. This number, 10, represents the number of Company Y’s full-time-equivalent employees for each month during 2016.
Employer Y adds up the total number of full-time employees for each calendar month of 2016, which is 480 [40 x 12 = 480].
Employer Y adds up the total number of full-time equivalent employees for each calendar month of 2016, which is 120 [10 x 12 = 120].
So, although Company Y only has 40 full-time employees, it is an ALE for 2017 due to the hours of service of its full-time equivalent employees.
Companies with a common owner or that are otherwise related under certain rules of section 414 of the Internal Revenue Code are generally combined and treated as a single employer for determining ALE status. If the combined number of full-time employees and full-time-equivalent employees for the group is large enough to meet the definition of an ALE, then each employer in the group (called an ALE member) is part of an ALE and is subject to the employer shared responsibility provisions, even if separately the employer would not be an ALE.
Corporation X has no employees at any time in 2015. • For every calendar month in 2015, Corporation Y has 40 full-time employees and Corporation Z has 60 full-time employees. Neither Corporation Y nor Corporation Z has any full-time equivalent employees.
Because Corporations X, Y and Z have a combined total of 100 full-time employees for each month during 2015, Corporations X, Y, and Z together are an ALE for 2016.
Corporation Y and Z are each an ALE member for 2016.
Corporation X is not an ALE member for 2016 because it does not have any employees during 2015.
See Q&A #s6 and 42 on our employer shared responsibility provisions questions and answers page for more information.
A seasonal worker is generally defined for this purpose as an employee who performs labor or services on a seasonal basis. For example, retail workers employed exclusively during holiday seasons are seasonal workers. For more information about how seasonal workers affect ALE determinations, see our Questions and Answers page. For information on the difference between a seasonal worker and a seasonal employee under the employer shared responsibility provisions see Q&A #54. And for the full definition of seasonal worker, see section 54.4980H-1(a)(39) of the ESRP regulations.
A new employer (that is, an employer that was not in existence on any business day in the prior calendar year) is an ALE for the current calendar year if it reasonably expects to employ, and actually does employ, an average of at least 50 full-time employees (including full-time equivalent employees) on business days during the current calendar year. See Q&A #5 on our employer shared responsibility questions and answers page for more information.
A transition rule for 2015 allows an employer to use any consecutive six-month period during 2014 to measure its workforce size, rather than using the full 12 months of 2014. See Q&A #31 on our employer shared responsibility questions and answers page for more information.
Regulations on the employer shared responsibility for employers. In particular, section 54.4980H-2 of the regulations addresses rules for determining ALE status .
An eligible Employer-Sponsored Plan refers to group health insurance coverage for employees under (1) a governmental plan, such as the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHB), (2) an insured plan or coverage offered in the small or large group market within a state, (3) a grandfathered health plan offered in a group market, or (4) a self-insured group health plan for employees.
Eligible Employer-Sponsored Plan has the same meaning as in section 5000A(f)(2) and § 1.5000A–2(c)(1).
For this purpose, an employee is an individual who is an employee under the common-law standard for determining employer-employee relationships.
If an employee is an employee of more than one employer of the same Aggregated ALE Group during a calendar month, the employee is treated as an employee of the employer for whom the employee has the greatest number of hours of service for that calendar month; if the employee has an equal number of hours of service for two or more employers of the same Aggregated ALE Group for the calendar month, those employers must treat one of the employers as the employer of that employee for that calendar month. See the section entitled “One Form 1095-C for Each Employee of Each Employer” for a discussion of reporting in these circumstances. See Publication 15-A, Employer’s Supplemental Tax Guide, for more information on determining who is an employee.
Independent contractors (1099 employees): People such as doctors, veterinarians, and auctioneers who follow an independent trade, business, or profession in which they offer their services to the public, are generally not employees. However, whether such people are employees or independent contractors depends on the facts in each case. The general rule is that an individual is an independent contractor if you, the person for whom the services are performed, have the right to control or direct only the result of the work and not the means and methods of accomplishing the result.
A full-time traveling or city salesperson who works on your behalf and turns in orders to you from wholesalers, retailers, contractors, or operators of hotels, restaurants, or other similar establishments. The goods sold must be merchandise for resale or supplies for use in the buyer’s business operation. The work performed for you must be the salesperson’s principal business activity. See Salesperson in section 2.
Direct selling includes activities of individuals who attempt to increase direct sales activities of their direct sellers and who earn income based on the productivity of their direct sellers. Such activities include providing motivation and encouragement; imparting skills, knowledge, or experience; and recruiting.
Licensed real estate agents: This category includes individuals engaged in appraisal activities for real estate sales if they earn income based on sales or other output.
Companion sitters: – Companion sitters are individuals who furnish personal attendance, companionship, or household care services to children or to individuals who are elderly or disabled. A person engaged in the trade or business of putting the sitters in touch with individuals who wish to employ them (that is, a companion sitting placement service) will not be treated as the employer of the sitters if that person does not receive or pay the salary or wages of the sitters and is compensated by the sitters or the persons who employ them on a fee basis. Companion sitters who are not employees of a companion sitting placement service are generally treated as self-employed for all federal tax purposes.
For purposes of these instructions, an employer is the person that is the employer of an employee under the common-law standard for determining employer-employee relationships and that is subject to the employer shared responsibility provisions of section 4980H (these employers are referred to as ALE Members). For more information on which employers are ALE Members, see the definition of Applicable Large Employer Member (ALE Member).
As per 1095C Instructions – A full-time employee is an employee who, for a calendar month, is employed an average of at least 30 hours of service per week with the employer. For this purpose, 130 service hours in a calendar month is treated as the monthly equivalent of at least 30 hours per week. An employer must complete information for all twelve months of the calendar year for any of its employees who were full-time employees for one or more months of the calendar year. For more information on the identification of full-time employees, see Regulations sections 54.4980H-1(a)(21) and 54.4980H-3 and Notice 2014-49, 2014-41 I.R.B 66 (which describes a proposed approach to the application of the look-back measurement method in situations in which the measurement period applicable to an employee changes). An employer need not file a Form 1095-C for an individual who for each month of a calendar year is either not an employee of the employer or is an employee in a limited non-assessment period. However, for the months in which the employee was an employee of the employer, such an employee would be included in the total employee count reported on Form 1094-C, Part III, Column (c). Also, if during the Limited Non-Assessment Period the employee enrolled in coverage under a self-insured employer-sponsored plan, the employer must file a Form 1095-C for the employee to report coverage information for the year.
As per 4980H Preamble VII Key Terms – Full-time Employee has the same meaning as in section 4980H(c)(4) and § 54.4980H–1(a)(21), but only as applied to the determination and calculation of liability under section 4980H(a) and (b) with respect to any individual employee (and therefore not including full-time equivalent employees as defined in § 54.4980H–1(a)(22)). The final regulations under section 4980H define an employee for purposes of section 4980H as an individual who is an employee under the common law standard, and as not including a leased employee (as defined in section 414(n)(2)), a sole proprietor, a partner in a partnership, a 2-percent S corporation shareholder, or a worker described in section 3508.
A combination of employees, each of whom individually is not treated as a full-time employee because he or she is not employed on average at least 30 hours of service per week with an employer, but who, in combination, are counted as the equivalent of a full-time employee solely for purposes of determining whether the employer is an ALE. For rules on how to determine full-time equivalent employees, see Regulations section 54.4980H-2(c).
A Governmental Unit is the government of the United States, any State or political subdivision thereof, or any Indian tribal government (as defined in section 7701(a)(40)) or subdivision of an Indian tribal government (as defined in section 7871(d)). For purposes of these instructions, references to a Governmental Unit include an Agency or Instrumentality of a Governmental Unit. Until guidance is issued that defines the term Agency or Instrumentality of a Governmental Unit for purposes of section 6056, an entity may determine whether it is an Agency or Instrumentality of a Governmental Unit based on a reasonable and good faith interpretation of existing rules relating to agency or instrumentality determinations for other federal tax purposes.
Refers to minimum essential coverage, unless otherwise indicated.
An hour of service is each hour for which an employee is paid, or entitled to payment, for the performance of duties for the employer, and each hour for which an employee is paid, or entitled to payment, for a period of time during which no duties are performed due to vacation, holiday, illness, incapacity (including disability), layoff, jury duty, military duty, or leave of absence. An hour of service does not include any hour of service performed as a Bona Fide Volunteer of a government entity or tax-exempt entity, as part of a Federal Work-Study Program (or a substantially similar program of a State or political subdivision thereof) or to the extent the compensation for services performed constitutes income from sources without the United States. See www.irs.gov/irb/2014-13_IRB/ar09.html for a discussion of determination of hours of service for categories of employees for whom the general rules for determining hours of service may present special difficulties (including adjunct faculty and commissioned salespeople) and certain categories of work hours associated with some positions of employment, including layover hours (for example, for certain airline employees), on-call hours, and work performed by an individual who is subject to a vow of poverty as a member of a religious order.
Under the primary direction or control of the recipient company.
Top-Heavy – Code section 416.
A Limited Non-Assessment Period generally refers to a period during which an ALE Member will not be subject to an assessable payment under section 4980H(a), and in certain cases section 4980H(b), for a full-time employee, regardless of whether that employee is offered health coverage during that period. The first five periods described below are Limited Non-Assessment Periods only if the employee is offered health coverage by the first day of the first month following the end of the period, and are Limited Non-Assessment Periods for section 4980H(b) only if the health coverage that is offered at the end of the period provides minimum value. For more information on Limited Non-Assessment Periods and the application of section 4980H, see Regulations section 54.4980H-1(a)(26).
First Year as ALE Period. January through March of the first calendar year in which an employer is an ALE, but only for an employee who was not offered health coverage by the employer at any point during the prior calendar year. For this purpose, 2015 is not the first year an employer is an ALE, if that employer was an ALE in 2014 (notwithstanding that transition relief provides that no employer shared responsibility payments under section 4980H will apply for 2014 for any employer).
Waiting Period under the Monthly Measurement Method. If an employer is using the monthly measurement method to determine whether an employee is a full-time employee, the period beginning with the first full calendar month in which the employee is first otherwise (but for completion of the waiting period) eligible for an offer of health coverage and ending no later than two full calendar months after the end of that first calendar month.
Waiting Period under the Look-Back Measurement Method. If an employer is using the look-back measurement method to determine whether an employee is a full-time employee and the employee is reasonably expected to be a full-time employee at his or her start date, the period beginning on the employee’s start date and ending not later than the end of the employee’s third full calendar month of employment.
Initial Measurement Period and Associated Administrative Period under the Look-Back Measurement Method. If an employer is using the look-back measurement method to determine whether a new employee is a full-time employee, and the employee is a variable hour employee, seasonal employee or part-time employee, the initial measurement period for that employee and the administrative period immediately following the end of that initial measurement period.
Period Following Change in Status that Occurs During Initial Measurement Period Under the Look-Back Measurement Method. If an employer is using the look-back measurement method to determine whether a new employee is a full-time employee, and, as of the employee’s start date, the employee is a variable hour employee, seasonal employee or part-time employee, but, during the initial measurement period, the employee has a change in employment status such that, if the employee had begun employment in the new position or status, the employee would have reasonably been expected to be a full-time employee, the period beginning on the date of the employee’s change in employment status and ending not later than the end of the third full calendar month following the change in employment status. If the employee is a full-time employee based on the initial measurement period and the associated stability period starts sooner than the end of the third full calendar month following the change in employment status, this Limited Non-Assessment Period ends on the day before the first day of that associated stability period.
First Calendar Month of Employment. If the employee’s first day of employment is a day other than the first day of the calendar month, then the employee’s first calendar month of employment is a Limited Non-Assessment Period.
Although various types of health coverage may qualify as minimum essential coverage, for purposes of these instructions, minimum essential coverage refers to health coverage under an eligible employer-sponsored plan. For more details on Minimum essential coverage, see Minimum essential coverage in Pub. 974.
Minimum Essential Coverage has the same meaning as in section 5000A(f) and the regulations issued under that section.
A plan provides minimum value if the plan pays at least 60 percent of the costs of benefits for a standard population.
Minimum Value has the same meaning as in section 36B and any applicable guidance. See proposed § 1.36B–6.
Person. has the same meaning as provided in section 7701(a)(1) and the related regulations.
An employer makes an offer of coverage to an employee if it provides the employee an effective opportunity to enroll in the health coverage (or to decline that coverage) at least once for each plan year.
An employer makes an offer of health coverage to an employee for the plan year if it continues the employee’s election of coverage from a prior year but provides the employee an effective opportunity to opt out of the health coverage. If an employer provides health coverage to an employee but does not provide the employee an effective opportunity to decline the coverage, the employer is treated as having made an offer of health coverage to the employee only if that health coverage provides minimum value and does not require an employee contribution for the coverage for any calendar month of more than 9.5 percent of a monthly amount determined as the mainland federal poverty line for a single individual for the applicable calendar year, divided by 12.
For purposes of reporting, an offer to a spouse includes an offer to a spouse that is subject to a reasonable, objective condition, regardless of whether the spouse meets the reasonable, objective condition. For example, an offer of coverage that is available to a spouse only if the spouse certifies that the spouse does not have access to health coverage from another employer is treated as an offer of coverage to the spouse for reporting purposes. Note that this treatment is for reporting purposes only, and generally will not affect the spouse’s eligibility for the premium tax credit if the spouse did not meet the condition and therefore did not have an actual offer of coverage.
An employer offers health coverage for a month only if it offers health coverage that would provide coverage for every day of that calendar month. For reporting purposes, this means that an offer of coverage does not occur for a month if an employee’s employment terminates before the last day of a calendar month and the health coverage also ends before the last day of that calendar month (or for an employee who didn’t enroll in coverage, the coverage would have ended if the employee had enrolled in coverage). However, see the description of Code Series 2—Section 4980H Safe Harbor Codes and Other Relief for Employers, code 2B which may be applicable in these circumstances to indicate that the employer is treated as having offered coverage for the entire month for purposes of section 4980H.
An employer offers health coverage to an employee if it, or another employer in the Aggregated ALE Group, or a third party such as a multiemployer or single employer Taft-Hartley plan, a multiple employer welfare arrangement (MEWA), or, in certain cases, a staffing firm, offers health coverage on behalf of the employee.
Interim Guidance Regarding Multiemployer Arrangements. An employer is treated as offering health coverage to an employee if the employer is required by a collective bargaining agreement or related participation agreement to make contributions for that employee to a multiemployer plan that offers, to individuals who satisfy the plan’s eligibility conditions, health coverage that is affordable and provides minimum value, and that also offers health coverage to those individuals’ dependents or is eligible for the section 4980H transition relief regarding offers of coverage to dependents. For more information, see section XV.E of the preamble to the final section 4980H regulations.
A qualifying offer is an offer of MEC providing minimum value to one or more full-time employees for all calendar months during the calendar year for which the employee was a full-time employee for whom a section 4980H assessable payment could apply, at an employee cost for employee-only coverage for each month not exceeding 9.5 percent of the mainland single federal poverty line divided by 12, provided that the offer includes an offer of MEC to the employee’s spouse and dependents (if any).
A retiree (meaning an individual who was not an employee during the applicable period) is not a full-time employee. However, if the retiree was a full-time employee for any month of the calendar year (for example, before retiring mid-year), the employer must complete information in Part II of Form 1095-C for all twelve months of the calendar year, using the appropriate codes.
For Information reporting by providers of coverage issuers self-insuring employers and sponsors of certain government sponsored programs (6055) please visit this page.
For reporting requirements for applicable large employers (6056) please visit this page.
For shared responsibility for employer please visit this page.

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