House Ways and Means Passes Bill on Easing ACA Reporting Requirements

By Thomas Gase, Times-Herald, Vallejo, CA (TNS)

The House Ways and Means Committee passed Rep. Mike Thompson (R-CA) and Rep. Adrian Smith’s (R-NE) Employer Reporting Improvement Act on Wednesday with a bipartisan vote. The bill now goes to the House floor for consideration.

“I am glad that the Ways and Means Committee today passed my bill reducing administrative burdens and making it easier for businesses to comply with the Affordable Care Act,” said Thompson in a news release. “This bill will streamline reporting requirements so companies can focus on what they do best—creating jobs and growing our local economies.”

The Employer Reporting Improvement Act aims to do the following:

Protects privacy by eliminating the requirement that employers collect not only their workers’ Social Security numbers (SSNs) but their workers’ dependents’ SSNs.
Allows electronic submission of certain forms to the IRS which previously had to be faxed.
Provides employers a notice before the IRS levies penalties against them if they are not complying with ACA requirements.
Gives the IRS more time to go after bad actors who don’t meet their ACA obligations to provide their employees with coverage that meets certain standards.

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