IRS Implementation of ACA’s Employer Shared Responsibility Provision Falls Short Based on the Results of a Recent Audit

Based on a recent audit conducted by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), the IRS’ processes and procedures to ensure compliance with the employer information reporting requirements mandated by the employer shared responsibility provision (the play or pay rules) of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), have fallen short of their intended goals. (see Audit Report No. 2017-43-027). According to TIGTA, due to faulty processes, the IRS did not have “accurate and complete data for use in its compliance strategy to identify noncompliant employers potentially subject to the employer shared responsibility payment.” System errors also resulted in the agency being unable to process paper information returns “timely and accurately,” TIGTA noted. Approximately 16,000 paper Forms 1094-C and 1.4 million paper Forms 1095-C had not been processed as of five months after May 31 (the deadline). The TIGTA offered several recommendations to the IRS to improve management practices. The IRS agreed with all but one of these recommendations and is developing a more accurate system for identifying employers that are not complying with the employer shared responsibility requirements.