The Affordable Care Act contains comprehensive health insurance reforms and includes tax provisions that affect individuals, families, businesses, insurers, tax-exempt organizations and government entities. To properly comply with these provisions it is now necessary for health insurance companies to record tax identifying information on each covered individual.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requirement for code section 6055, states insurance carriers must supply the IRS with key information on each covered individual. This information includes, but is not limited to, Name, Social Security Number (SSN) or Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), and the months in which a member had coverage. In addition, each plan subscriber must be sent a form 1095-B statement reflecting medical coverage held for themselves and their dependents, which will be used when filing their 2015 tax return.
Why are we notifying you?
We wanted to make you aware that your insurance company will be reaching out to you regarding Minimum Essential Coverage reporting and the need for the SSN/TIN for all covered individuals.
Also, if you sponsor an Employer group plan, you are responsible for reporting information to the IRS on who was covered under their group plan, per IRS code section 6056, and will also need valid SSN/TINs for each of their covered members.
What will your insurance company do?
The insurance company is required to contact all insured members without a valid SSN/TIN on file to request the missing information. Please watch for this information and send back your updated information to ensure you will prove that you did have valid health insurance for your 2015 taxes.
For more information on these new requirements, you may visit the IRS website at www.irs.gov/Affordable-Care-Act. Please also, feel free to contact our office at 800-637-4676 with questions.