Recently, we were at the SHRM Annual Conference & Exposition 2016 in Washington D.C. The three days offered HR and Benefits professionals all types of opportunities for learning, hearing from industry experts and a chance to network and share their experiences concerning the first year of mandatory ACA reporting. Based on this feedback, here are the main takeaways from SHRM we have to share with you:
- Some payroll providers who chose to also try and handle ACA reporting did not meet expectations at all and using them was fraught with problems for companies. From customer service issues and sending out incomplete forms to employees to having to still invest a lot of manual effort to validate information line by line. Overall, many organizations were quite disappointed with using a payroll processor for ACA reporting. At Sovos, we have been specializing in tax information reporting for over 30 years and are the number one private filer of 10-series tax forms in the US.
- There was a common misunderstanding around what “good faith” means for this first year of ACA reporting. Making a best attempt at filing forms and transmittal is not good enough. You must follow the IRS procedures as closely as possible and document your efforts to show your attempt to comply. There are steep penalties you can face for non-compliance.
- On that note, there are still lots of questions about ACA reporting overall. Those that were charged with handing ACA reporting this year still have many questions regarding the process. At Sovos, we provide a wealth of information to HR, Benefits, and Benefits Broker professionals alike to help and educate on this complex requirement. Want to learn more? We encourage you to visit our education center and webinars for in-depth, easy to understand options.
- Whether you are an HR professional or most of the ACA responsibilities are now being handled by your Benefits department, everyone is now realizing that data entry and manipulation takes a lot of time and ensuring this data is accurate and entered correctly is paramount. It is very beneficial to be proactive about ACA compliance, rather than reactive.
Overall, it was a great SHRM conference and we were happy to help people understand more about ACA reporting and achieving compliance using our Sovos ACA solution. We’ll definitely be back next year.
