Why is a year-round approach important for ACA reporting?

A year-round approach to ACA reporting ensures employers continuously collect and monitor employee hours and eligibility, reducing errors and compliance risks. This proactive process helps avoid last-minute rushes before IRS deadlines and minimizes the chance of costly penalties.

How does ACA-Track help with continuous monitoring of employee hours?

ACA-Track collects actual hours worked across all employee types—full-time, part-time, variable-hour, and substitutes—directly integrating with payroll, timekeeping, and HR systems. This enables accurate and up-to-date tracking essential for determining ACA eligibility throughout the year.

What ACA forms are generated through ACA-Track for employer reporting?

ACA-Track automatically generates and electronically files IRS Forms 1094-C and 1095-C, which report employer coverage offers and employee enrollment. This streamlines the reporting process and ensures compliance with federal and state ACA requirements.

Can ACA-Track help prevent ACA reporting errors and penalties?

Yes, ACA-Track conducts monthly audits and provides error alerts to detect discrepancies before IRS filing deadlines. This proactive error correction reduces the risk of penalties and simplifies response to any IRS inquiries or audits.

How does ACA-Track secure sensitive employee ACA data?

ACA-Track operates in a secure, SAS 70 certified cloud environment, with SOC 2 Type 2 compliance. All personal data is encrypted, and all transmissions use HTTPS, ensuring confidentiality and protection against unauthorized access.

A Year Round Approach to ACA Reporting

A Year-Round Approach to ACA Reporting: Simplifying Compliance with ACA-Track

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) remains one of the most significant regulatory frameworks affecting employers in the United States. For Applicable Large Employers (ALEs), staying compliant with ACA reporting requirements is crucial to avoid costly penalties and ensure employees receive accurate health coverage information. However, ACA compliance is not just a once-a-year task—it requires a consistent, year-round approach to monitoring, tracking, and reporting employee hours and coverage data.

In this blog post, we’ll explore why taking a year-round approach to ACA reporting is essential, the complexities employers face, and how ACA-Track can help your organization navigate ACA compliance with confidence and ease.

Understanding the ACA Reporting Challenge

What Employers Need to Know About ACA

The ACA requires ALEs—generally those with 50 or more full-time or full-time equivalent employees—to offer health coverage that is both affordable and provides minimum value. Employers must then report coverage offers and enrollment data to the IRS using Forms 1094-C and 1095-C, and also furnish 1095-Cs to employees.

While this may sound straightforward, ACA compliance is complex because:

You must accurately track hours worked for all employee types: full-time, part-time, variable hour, substitute, and paraprofessional.
You must monitor eligibility over specific measurement, administrative, and stability periods.
Data comes from multiple sources: payroll, HRIS, timekeeping, benefits, and finance systems.
Reporting must be timely and error-free to avoid penalties.

Why a Year-Round Approach Is Critical

Many employers view ACA reporting as a once-a-year administrative task, done in the weeks before IRS deadlines. This reactive approach can lead to errors, missed deadlines, incomplete data, and ultimately, costly IRS penalties.

Instead, ACA compliance should be a continuous, proactive process that includes:

Regular collection of employee hours worked from all relevant systems.
Ongoing monitoring of employee eligibility to identify those who meet the full-time threshold early.
Timely correction of data errors and inconsistencies.
Preparation for IRS reporting well in advance of filing deadlines.

By maintaining ACA data throughout the year, you can generate accurate reports quickly, reduce compliance risk, and respond confidently to any IRS audit or inquiry.

How ACA-Track Supports a Year-Round ACA Compliance Strategy

ACA-Track offers a comprehensive, integrated solution designed to simplify ACA compliance through a seamless year-round workflow.

1. Collect Employee Hours Worked Across All Types

ACA-Track collects actual hours worked by every employee, including variable hour and part-time workers, from multiple sources:

Automated time clocks
Manual timesheets
Mobile device entries
Payroll systems

This ensures you have accurate and up-to-date data for eligibility determination.

2. Monitor Eligibility and Compliance Status

ACA-Track provides advanced monitoring tools that alert you when employees exceed eligibility thresholds or experience status changes such as waivers or leave. This proactive feature helps prevent coverage offer mistakes and supports compliance with measurement and stability periods.

3. Comprehensive and Accurate Reporting

Generating and filing IRS Forms 1094-C and 1095-C is streamlined with ACA-Track’s automated electronic filing system. The platform:

Creates IRS-ready XML files for electronic submission
Supports both federal and state reporting requirements
Conducts monthly line code audits on 1095-Cs to ensure data accuracy
Provides an archive of all ACA data for easy retrieval during audits or IRS inquiries

4. User-Friendly Interface with Customizable Dashboards

ACA-Track’s intuitive, customizable dashboard lets your team view, sort, filter, and analyze ACA data in a way that suits your workflow. Snapshots preserve historical employee data and provide detailed compliance views over time.

5. Security and Data Integrity

With SAS 70 certification, SSAE 16 compliance, and SOC 2 type 2 security standards, ACA-Track safeguards your sensitive employee information. All data transfers use secure HTTPS encryption, and personally identifiable data is protected with robust encryption methods.

6. Dedicated Client Success Support

Each ACA-Track customer is assigned a dedicated Client Success Advisor who helps tailor the solution to your business needs, ensuring you’re never alone in managing ACA compliance.

The Risks of Not Tracking ACA Compliance Year-Round

Failing to maintain ongoing ACA data tracking can lead to:

IRS penalties: For example, late filing penalties for 2020 were $50-$270 per return, with maximum fines in the hundreds of thousands.
Shared responsibility payment fees: Employers can owe $2,000 per full-time employee if they fail to offer minimum essential coverage.
IRS 226-J penalty letters: These audit notices require immediate response and can trigger costly penalties if ignored.
Employee disputes: Without documented hours and coverage offers, employees may claim they were eligible but not offered coverage.

Final Thoughts: Make ACA Compliance Simple with ACA-Track

ACA compliance no longer needs to be a complex, stressful year-end scramble. With a year-round approach powered by ACA-Track, employers can confidently collect, monitor, and report ACA data with ease, accuracy, and security.

Whether your organization needs help with variable hour tracking, electronic IRS filing, or error correction, ACA-Track has the tools, expertise, and client support to make ACA compliance straightforward—every day of the year.

Ready to simplify ACA compliance?

Visit ACA-Track today to learn more about their proven ACA compliance services and start your year-round compliance journey. Your dedicated Client Success Advisor is waiting to help.