How does ACA Compliance work on GoCo?

GoCo will help your company determine if you’re meeting the requirements of the ACA. There are several concepts related to the ACA, and GoCo has simplified them into the following pages.

On the compliance page, you can see if your company is meeting the ACA compliance requirements for your team during specific IRS form filing year.

On the Future Coverage page, you will see a list of your team’s active measurement periods.  These measurement periods will determine if the employee is full-time (working over 130 hours per month).

On the coverage changes page, you’ll be asked to review and apply the necessary coverage changes required to remain ACA compliance.

GoCo will ask you to upload the hourly data for your employees in order to determine their full-time status.  Employee's working over 130+ hours per month for a 12-month measurement period are considered full-time, and health plan coverage must be offered to them.

Near the end of the filing year, GoCo will work with your company directly to file the 1095-C and 1094C forms to the IRS.  These forms are used by the IRS to determine if your company has offered affordable health plan coverage to all eligible full-time employees.

• Measurement Period - A measurement period is used to measure the employee's hours worked over a period of time, and determine if they are full-time (working over 130+ hours per month for the entire measurement period).

There are 2 types of measurement periods:

-A Standard Measurement Period is used for all ongoing employees, and measures hours starting from your health plan renewal (unless otherwise specified) and lasts 12 months.

-An Initial Measurement Period is used for your hourly new-hires and starts on the 1st of the month after the new-hires start date, and lasts 12 months. New-hires who's employment type is "Full-Time" will need to be offered coverage within 3 months after their start date.

Measurement periods are represented on the Future Coverage page.

• Stability Period - A stability period is a 12-month period of time where health plan coverage must be offered to all full-time employees.

Stability periods are represented on the Compliance Status page.

• Admin Period - An admin period is a 2 month period that starts after your employee's measurement period has ended. During this period you're required to offer coverage to the employee if they were measured to be full-time.

When an employee is within an admin period, they will appear on the Coverage Changes page if you are required to offer coverage, or if coverage is no longer required.

• Full-Time Employee - The IRS considers any employee working over 130 hours per month a full-time employee. If an employee is part-time, their hours will be measured during the employee's measurement period for 12 months.

If at the end of the 12-month measurement the employee was found to have worked over (or close to) 130 hours on average per month, they will be considered full-time and must be offered health coverage.

• Limited Non-Assessment Period - This is a period of time where your company is not subject to the ACA penalties for not offering health coverage.

There are several types of Limited Non-Assessment Periods that can occur. Learn more about Limited Assessment Periods

• Safe Harbors - Safe harbors are calculation methods provided by the IRS to determine health plan affordability for your employees.  

There are 3 different types of safe harbors you can use on GoCo.  Learn more about ACA Safe Harbors

• 1095-C Form - The 1095-C Form is sent to all full-time employees, and the IRS at the end of the filing year.  The form contains details including:

- the coverage offered to the employee
- the lowest-cost health plan premium offered to the employee
- the months of the year when coverage was available

GoCo will generate this form for you, and work with you to get it filed to the IRS on time.

• 1094-C Form - The 1094-C Form is only sent to the IRS.  This form is essentially a single "cover sheet" including information about your company, including:

- the company EIN, address, phone number

- the number of employees

- the contact name of the person for the company

- the number of 1095-C forms that are being sent

GoCo will generate this form for you, and work with you to get it filed to the IRS on time.

Contact help@goco.io for more information.