Affordable Care Act Management - equifax.com Care Act Management ... connect data to provide employers with a tool ... Equifax proactively works with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid

Affordable Care Act ManagementPut ACA compliance on autopilot

WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS

The Affordable Care Act brings unprecedented changes to workforce management and compliance. In order to properly manage the entire ACA ecosystem, employers must manage communication and reporting with three key groups of stakeholders:

n Employeesn Exchangesn Internal Revenue Service

Equifax is able to draw upon years of experience in providing employers with compliance, tax, and employment-related services such as W-2 management, income verification, unemployment claims management, and workforce analytics to help manage the Affordable Care Act.

Data Integration and Management Much of the information needed to manage ACA resides in multiple locations or systems, if anywhere. In fact, the legislation requires organizations to track and report “net new” data that has never previously existed such as employee designations and measurement periods. For the few employers that are able to access the necessary information, data quality issues are likely to arise.

Our award-winning ACA Management Platform is able to connect data to provide employers with a tool that tracks hours according to the regulations, determines eligibility, predicts future eligibility and enrollment volume, and provides notifications for potential penalties and compliance risks.

The technology is backed by redundant systems, meaning that the calculations are run in two separate instances at the same time, further helping to ensure that your calculations are correct based on the data provided. This also creates an audit trail for employers. Additionally, you’ll have peace of mind knowing that your data is safe with technology held to the security standards of Equifax, a credit bureau that is governed by strict regulations.

We offer:

■■ Ongoing data management and validation

■■ Eligibility projections and determinations

■■ Affordability calculations and “what if” modeling

■■ Fine risk assessments and notifications

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that employer shared responsibility penalties will produce $8 billion in revenue for the 2015 tax year. From 2016 through 2024, the CBO estimates that penalty payments will total $139 billion.

IRS Form Preparation and Distribution While the responsibility of meeting ACA reporting requirements typically falls under the HR or Benefits department, it is also a tax responsibility. The IRS will use forms 1094 and 1095 to determine whether employers will be fined under the employer mandate and whether employees will be fined under the individual mandate. In order to avoid penalties, accurate information must be delivered to both employees and to the IRS before the deadlines outlined in the regulations.

Interpreting and applying the appropriate indicator codes to the 1095-C can be complex regardless of whether employees are full-time or part-time. Once employees receive a 1095-C, many will have questions for their HR and Benefits departments.

Equifax will collect payroll, benefits, leave, and other required data from any system or location and translate the data into the appropriate indicator codes to populate 1095-Cs as well as collect the information to populate 1094s. We offer print and electronic delivery of the forms and can consolidate 1095-Cs with W-2s to help streamline the employee experience and help deliver significant savings in time and postage costs. In addition, our integration with tax preparers can facilitate simplified tax returns for employees which can lead to fewer manual errors. In the event that an employer is fined, Equifax can also manage the appeal process with the IRS.

We offer:

■■ Print and electronic delivery of 1095-Cs to employees

■■ Self-service reprints and corrections

■■ Call center support for employee questions

■■ Integration with tax preparers

■■ Optional W-2 integration for consolidated tax form delivery

■■ Automated eFiling to the IRS

“Our main focus in 2015 is on IRS reporting for the ACA. However, we are also starting to get state exchange subsidy appeal notifications. It’s critical that we respond to these notifications appropriately and in a timely manner. Equifax WorkforceSolutions has made that easy for us.The ACA Management Platform is very easy to learn and feels intuitive, and the data is easy to pull. We’ve actually seen requests for product functionality come out in future releases which makes our relationship with Equifax feel more like a partnership than a vendor relationship.”

- Rachel Stevens, Director of Benefits and Compensation, Staffmark

Compliance Reporting and AnalyticsWithout insight into potential costs and risks, employers are unable to forecast and plan accurately. Managers need to understand eligibility decisions and communicate them to their employees. Because the regulations call for fines to be assessed on a monthly basis, ensuring this information is relayed accurately and in a timely manner is imperative.Understanding risks ahead of time can allow employers to take action and avoid potential penalties. Equifax offers proactive compliance reporting and alerts to automate administrative tasks and help prevent year-end surprises.

We are able to:

■■ Show eligibility trends for each employee

■■ Provide a library of report templates

■■ Automate and schedule reports

■■ Provide estimates and alerts for potential fines

Exchange and Appeals Management When an employee applies for a subsidy, the federal or state exchange will request employment and income information to determine whether the employee qualifies for a subsidy. Once a subsidy is granted, the employer will receive a notification.Failure to properly manage exchange requests and subsidy notifications exposes employers to potential fines. In addition, the notifications can be sent to multiple locations making it difficult to collect, store, and respond to the notifications within the required timeframe. Organizations must also make a determination around whether or not they will appeal each subsidy and communicate this information to the exchanges.

Equifax proactively works with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and state exchanges to streamline subsidy-related verifications, notifications, and appeals. In fact, CMS is leveraging Equifax to verify employment and income on subsidy applications and has contracted with us to provide verification of benefits in the future.

“We have a strong partnership with Equifax... It is these types of innovations [like the ACA Management Platform] that strengthen our relationship with Equifax and allow us to focus on serving our customers.”

- Keith Morrison, Global Executive Director, Compensation & Benefits, Whole Foods Market

For employers using our service, this potentially means fewer subsidy appeals and fine disputes down the road because CMS will have obtained the subsidy application information upfront. When an employee does receive a subsidy, we can process and store the notification in the ACA Management Platform. If an employee receives a subsidy that is protestable, reports within the platform will flag the record as a potential appeal. Once authorized, Equifax can complete and distribute the appeal form to the applicable state or federal exchange. With over 30 years of expertise in claims management, Equifax has the knowledge and resources to handle subsidy appeals.

■■ Handle income and employment verification requests for subsidies

■■ Receive notifications on behalf of employers

■■ Upload and store subsidy notifications

■■ Notify employers when appeals are authorized

■■ Populate and distribute appeal forms

“I couldn’t be more pleased with the delivery of this solution [the ACA Management Platform]

to Caesars Entertainment... I sleep well at night knowing we are well prepared.”

- Ken Janssen, Corporate Director HR and Total Service AnalyticsCaesars Entertainment

The Equifax DifferenceWhen you choose Equifax for ACA management, your compliance, efficiency, and security can increase while your costs and risk exposure potentially decrease.

ExperienceEquifax has over 40 years experience in providing tax and compliance-related services to employers and over 100 years of experience in handling sensitive data. With over 17 million employees managed on our ACAManagement Platform, we are a market leader in ACA compliance.

ConnectionEquifax is contracted with CMS as the sole provider of employment and income verifications for the exchanges. To date, we have processed requests for approximately 18 million households for CMS. We are part of the IRS Reporting Consortium and remain connected withACA lawmakers.

SecurityBecause Equifax is a credit bureau, we are governed by strict regulations and must comply with acts of Congress such as the Graham Leach Bailey(GLB) Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) as well as organizations established by Congress such as the Consumer Finance Protection Board(CFPB). For this reason, we are held to very high security standards.

TechnologyOur ACA Management Platform is built using N-Version programming to help ensure accuracy. The Equifax team developed the entire system twice with two different programming teams, and maintains two independent platforms to help ensure quality calculations. The technology is powered by the eThority® analytics platform which provides flexibility and scalability so your compliance capabilities can evolve with your organization and the legislation.

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Equifax and EFX are registered trademarks of Equifax, Inc. eThority is a registered trademark of TALX Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Equifax Inc. © 2015, Equifax Inc., Atlanta, Georgia. All rights reserved. EFX-WS-4013-10/15/2015

CONTACT US TODAY

For more information:[email protected] 800-846-9200 www.equifaxworkforce.com/aca

Equifax Workforce Solutions: solutions to help employers save time and money

■■ Income and Employment Verifications—Offer your employees automated income and employment verifications through The Work Number®.

■■ Unemployment Cost Management—Helps reduce unemployment costs through claims processing, hearing representation, and reemployment strategies.

■■ I-9 Management—Helps maintain compliance with immigration and E-Verify® regulations by completing and storing federal I-9s electronically.

■■ ACA Management—Simplify ACA compliance and help reduce risk by automating processes for exchange verifications, eligibility tracking, IRS reporting, subsidy management, and fine disputes.

■■ Onboarding—Collect and manage information for new hire forms online to help improve compliance and reduce costs.

■■ Tax Credits and Incentives—Helps capture all the federal, state, and local tax credits and incentives based on eligibility.

■■ Paperless Pay—Offer electronic paystubs and paycards and better manage direct deposits, W-4s, and other employee information.

■■ W-2 Management—Deliver an electronic W-2 option to your employees, including optional paper distribution, reissues, corrections, and tax software upload capability.

■■ Employment Tax Services—Receive comprehensive tax consultation to identify areas of risk and identify refund opportunities.