Submitting 1094-C and 1095-C Forms Electronically

Note:  Be sure the steps for generating and validating the 1095-C forms and preparing, validating, and printing the 1094-C form have been completed prior to submitting the 1094-C and 1095-C forms.

Steps to Generate and Validate 1095-C Forms

Steps to Prepare, Validate, and Print 1094-C Form

Tip:  Only one submission file for the 1094-C and 1095-C forms can be pending (processing) with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) at a time.  

• From the Payroll screen, select the Government Reporting menu and then Affordable Care Act (ACA) C Forms.

Note:  The Affordable Care Act (ACA) C Forms option is only enabled if a calendar year is defined within the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Reporting Setup option with the Large Employer (or Small Employer Treated as Large) field selected.

• The ACA C Forms Search screen will appear listing all the applicable calendar years (those defined within the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Reporting Setup option with the Large Employer (or Small Employer Treated as Large) field selected).  Double-click the desired calendar year for which to submit the 1094-C and 1095-C forms.

• At the Affordable Care Act (ACA) C Forms screen, click the Employee 1095-Cs tab.

• In the View Option field, enter Unsubmitted to view the 1095 information for employees that have not yet been submitted to the IRS, or click the down-arrow button to select the correct one.  By default, Unsubmitted will be selected.

• Click the Submit Electronic File to IRS button to submit the ACA information returns (the 1094-C and 1095-C forms) to the IRS.  The Submit Electronic File to IRS button is only enabled if the Aggregated Group Member field is not selected within the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Reporting Setup option for the specified calendar year; for organizations with the Aggregated Group Member field selected, contact Customer Support for instructions on submitting by paper.

Note:  After clicking the button, the system checks the 1095s and 1094 for errors before transmitting the information to the IRS.  If there are errors, a screen will appear listing the employees with errors on the 1095s first (if applicable), and then a screen will appear listing a description of the errors for the 1094; the errors must be resolved before the information can be submitted.  If applicable, fix the errors and then repeat the steps above in order to submit the information.

Tip:  The system sends the 1095-C forms for the applicable employees, along with the 1094-C form, to the IRS.  The first submission for a calendar year is always sent with the 1094-C form completed as an authoritative transmittal.  If submitting a second or subsequent file for a calendar year because an employee was missed from the initial submission, the system sends the 1094-C form completed as a non-authoritative transmittal with the additional submission, and then also automatically sends a second 1094-C form as a correction to the prior authoritative transmittal (with the correct total reflected in Line 20 of Part II).  If submitting a second or subsequent file containing corrections for 1095s from a prior submission for the same calendar year, the system sends only one 1094-C form completed as a non-authoritative transmittal with the additional submission; if corrections are also needed for the prior authoritative transmittal, a corrected 1094-C must be manually submitted by selecting and resubmitting the most recent 1094 file submission in the IRS Submissions List.  An authoritative transmittal signifies the summary information for the employer is included; therefore Parts I, II, III, and IV are completed on the 1094-C form for an authoritative transmittal, while a non-authoritative transmittal only has Part I completed.

• If desired, to view the employee records included in the submission, enter Submitted in the View Option field (or click the down-arrow button to select it) and all the employees who were included with the submission will display on the screen with Processing as the Record Status.

• If desired, click the IRS Submissions tab to see the information included in the submission.  For an original submission, the following information appears in the IRS Submissions List:  the date and time of the submission, Pending as the Submission Status, 1094/1095 as the File Type, IRS Processing as the IRS Return Error Information, Original as the Submission Type, the File ID, and the applicable year.

Note:  Only the submissions for the selected calendar year appear in the IRS Submissions List.

• Close the Affordable Care Act (ACA) C Forms screen.

• The IRS will process the submission, and once the results are ready, an alert will appear on the main Payroll screen.  See below for examples of the alerts that may appear once the submission has been processed,  (Tip:  The YYYY will be replaced with the calendar year for which the forms were submitted.)

Note:  The processing time for the submission may take anywhere from up to several hours to seven days.  In order to see a new alert, the Payroll screen must be refreshed by closing the screen and then re-opening it, or clicking the Refresh Screen icon in the lower right-hand corner of the Payroll screen.

• YYYY: Submitted ACA Forms Accepted by IRS - indicates the file was processed successfully without any errors.  To view the details for the accepted submission, click the alert to view the IRS Submissions screen within the Affordable Care Act (ACA) C Forms option.  The submission appears in the IRS Submissions List as two lines with Accepted as the Submission Status for both, 1095 as the File Type for one and 1094 as the File Type for the other, No Errors as the IRS Return Error Information, and the same File ID for both.  No further action is needed.  The alert will no longer display after closing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) C Forms screen and refreshing the Payroll screen, or after 30 days if either the alert or the Affordable Care Act (ACA) C Forms option is not selected.

• YYYY: Submitted ACA Forms Need Corrections - indicates there were errors found with the submission by the IRS and corrections need to be submitted.  To view the details for the submission, click the alert to view the IRS Submissions screen within the Affordable Care Act (ACA) C Forms option.  The submission appears in the IRS Submissions List as one of the following:  1) two lines with Accepted as the Submission Status for both, 1095 as the File Type for one and 1094 as the File Type for the other, Errors Detected-Corrections Needed as the IRS Return Error Information for one or both (if there are errors with only one, then the other will have No Errors as the IRS Return Error Information), and the same File ID for both; or 2) one line with Rejected as the Submission Status, 1094/1095 as the File Type, and Errors Detected-Corrections Needed as the IRS Return Error Information.  Click on the submission containing 1095 as the File Type and then all the employees included in the submission appear in the Employee 1095-Cs to Resubmit List; for the employees with errors, a description of the error displays in the Error Message field (column).  Click on the submission containing 1094 as the File Type and if there are errors on the 1094-C form, a description of each error displays in the Error Message field (column) in the Employer 1094-C Error Messages List.  Make the appropriate changes to resolve the errors, and then complete the steps to submit corrected 1094-C and 1095-C forms.  The alert will no longer display after submitting a corrected file and refreshing the Payroll screen, or after 90 days if a corrected file is not resubmitted.

Steps to Submit Corrected 1094-C and 1095-C Forms Electronically

• YYYY: Transmission Error with ACA Forms - indicates there were issues connecting to the IRS site and the file was not successfully transmitted.  To view the details for the submission and resubmit the file, click the alert to view the IRS Submissions screen within the Affordable Care Act (ACA) C Forms option.  Click on the appropriate submission (the submission will display with Transmission Error-Try Again as the Submission Status in the IRS Submissions List), and then click the Submit Electronic File to IRS button.  The alert will no longer display after resubmitting the file and refreshing the Payroll screen, or after 90 days if the file is not resubmitted.

Tip:  If desired, view the tutorial below demonstrating submitting the ACA 1094-C and 1095-C forms electronically.  In order to view the tutorial, you must have an active Internet connection, along with a sound card and speakers installed on your computer.

Submitting ACA 1094-C and 1095-C Forms Electronically Tutorial