Forms 1095: Now Easier To Furnish To Employees After ACA Employer Information Reporting Changes

Under PBRA and recent IRS guidance, Forms 1095 only needs to be furnished upon request—if employers meet clear notice standards

In February 2025, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) provided updated guidance related to an employer’s obligations to furnish Forms 1095 to employees. This welcome update clarifies some ambiguity around the standards employers should comply with in notifying employees that Forms 1095 are available upon request.

Background

In December 2024, Congress and President Biden passed the Paperwork Burden Reduction Act (PBRA), which made important changes to employers’ responsibilities to furnish information to employees under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Under the ACA, applicable large employers (generally those employers with at least 50 full-time employees) and employers sponsoring a self-insured group health plan are required to furnish individuals covered under their health plans with a Form 1095-B or 1095-C (as applicable) annually. Prior to the PBRA’s passage, these employers had to furnish Forms 1095 to covered individuals each year by first-class mail, in-person delivery, or electronic delivery.

With the enactment of the PBRA, employers are no longer required to individually mail or deliver Forms 1095 to all covered individuals. Instead, if the employer provides the covered individuals with notice that a Form 1095 will be provided on request, the employer will only have to provide the Form 1095-B or 1095-C to those individuals who make a request. However, the PBRA did not provide details on how employer notices could comply with the standard other than stating that the employer notice must be a “clear, conspicuous, and accessible” notice that individuals may request their Form 1095-B or 1095-C.  

February 2025 Guidance

In a welcome February 2025 announcement, the IRS released further guidance for employers, with more details about satisfying the notice requirement. The new guidance borrows from an existing regulation that created an alternative manner of furnishing Form 1095-B for certain reporting entities and expands this alternative method to all employers furnishing Forms 1095-B and 1095-C. To comply with the requirements of the regulation, an employer’s notice must be:
 

• Reasonably accessible to all full-time employees on the employer’s website.
• Written in plain, non-technical terms, with a font size large enough, including visual cues or graphics, to draw a reader’s attention.
• Indicative that the information pertains to tax statements reporting that individuals had health coverage.

Further, the notice contents must include the employer’s contact information where an employee or covered individual can request their Form 1095-C or reach out to the employer with questions. An employer must provide three different contact methods—an email address, a physical address, and a telephone number—to satisfy the required information. The regulation provides that a statement on the main page of the employer website, or accessible from a “Tax Information” link on the main page, in all capital letters, “IMPORTANT HEALTH COVERAGE TAX DOCUMENTS” with the required contents would be sufficient.

Employers who wish to use this alternative method must post a notice complying with the above requirements no later than 30 days after the January 31 deadline for furnishing the Form 1095-C. This means that for the 2024 reporting year, a notice complying with the requirements above should have been posted no later than March 3, 2025. For the 2025 reporting year, a compliant notice must be posted by March 2, 2026. Once posted, the notice should be retained in the same location until October 15 of the year of posting.

Furnishing Forms 1095 Upon Request

While a notice relieves an employer from having to furnish Forms 1095 to all covered individuals, an employer is still required to furnish a Form 1095 upon an individual’s request no later than the later of:

1. Thirty days after the date of the request.
2. January 31, following the coverage year for which the Form 1095 is requested.

Prior to the PBRA and this new guidance, employers were faced with a costly and burdensome process of furnishing these Forms. This new approach to making Forms 1095 available to covered individuals should provide some practical relief to HR and payroll departments going forward. 

	Susan K. Bilbro is a member at Bass, Berry & Sims, where she advises clients across a range of industries on all aspects of employee welfare benefit and retirement plans, including design, structure, implementation, day-to-day administration and termination of retirement and health and welfare benefit plans.
	Nicole S. Roth is an associate at Bass, Berry & Sims, where she works with clients on the design, implementation, and administration of qualified benefit plans, health and welfare benefit plans, and deferred compensation packages.