Fortis Management Group overcomes ACA reporting challenges with Sovos

Case Study

Fortis Management Group LLC

Fortis used Sovos ACA Reporting to overcome challenges in reporting on multiple EINs and fix reporting processes before IRS penalties took effect.

Summary

Business Challenges

  • Fortis had to completely restructure its ACA reporting from using one EIN to using more than 60.
  • Fortis faced potentially severe IRS penalties beginning in TY2017 if it couldn’t get its ACA reporting process under control.

Solution

  • The Sovos ACA online reporting solution enabled Fortis to easily complete mailings and transmittals with 60-plus EINs.

  • Using the Sovos solution, the company was also able to identify potential filing errors before they happened.

Benefits

  • Sovos ACA online reporting will help Fortis avoid potentially costly errors as IRS penalties for incorrect ACA filings kick in.
  • Fortis HR professionals do not need to spend countless hours hand keying spreadsheets that “go on forever” into reportable formats, so they can pursue other activities

The Company

Founded in 2014, Fortis manages and staffs more than 60 nursing homes in six states in the upper Midwest and Pacific Northwest. It employs 6000 people, primarily as nurses, cooks and aides for its facilities. Fortis is in a high-turnover industry, which sometimes leads to complicated tax information reporting scenarios.

The Challenge

Fortis conducted 1094-C and 1095-C filings under the parent company’s single Employer Identification Number (EIN) in TY2015, only to discover the IRS required separate filings from each of its 60-plus managed facilities. The need to use a massive spreadsheet of employee information to carry out reporting for more than 60 EINs made Fortis’ filing process rife with potential confusion, errors and inefficiencies.

The Solution

Fortis was able to easily upload information from its spreadsheet for 60-plus separate facilities into the Sovos solution, mail forms to employees and transmit filings to the IRS. The Sovos application flagged errors before Fortis mailed 1095-C forms to employees, enabling the company to preemptively cut down on mistakes. Sovos also eliminated the need for Fortis’ HR staff to manually enter information from the spreadsheet into a format acceptable for filing and mailing.

“The spreadsheet of employee data has columns that go on forever. I took the spreadsheet and uploaded it to the Sovos website. I was able to file everything with the IRS, and I was good to go. Sovos made things much easier for me.”

 Carol Eady

Director of Payroll and Benefits, Fortis Management Group LLC

The Benefits

Sovos automated the process of ACA reporting for more than 60 separate business entities, flagging potential errors in 1095-C forms before Fortis mailed the forms. Ultimately, those capabilities enabled Fortis to avoid penalties before they take hold. The Sovos solution also freed Fortis HR professionals to pursue other projects by eliminating the need for them to manually enter information from their employee spreadsheet into transmittable formats.

Why Sovos?

Fortis did not have a payroll system in place that could handle ACA reporting. Sovos offered a solution that would reduce errors and save employees’ time while helping Fortis transition to reporting under more than 60 EINs, rather than just a single EIN. Sovos also offered pricing comparable to or lower than what other vendors quoted to Fortis in the evaluation process.