ACA tracking

This guide covers: mark an employee as ACA-applicable, record offers of coverage, and review the year's totals.

Mark an employee as ACA-applicable

What it does: Flags this client as an Applicable Large Employer (ALE) — the §4980H test that determines whether the company must file Forms 1094-C and 1095-C.

Where: Accountant dashboard → ACA (/clients/[clientId]/aca).

Steps:

1. Pick the Tax year in the filing envelope (defaults to last year).
2. Tick Applicable Large Employer (ALE) — 50+ FTEs in prior year if the client crossed the 50-FTE threshold.
3. Enter the FT employees count for the year.
4. Pick a Filing status: Draft is the default; flip to Ready when codes are complete; final statuses (Filed, Accepted) are set by the transmittal flow.

Who: Accountant or SMB owner.

Notes: If this client belongs to an aggregated controlled group, a banner shows the group-wide §4980H result ("IS an ALE" or "NOT an ALE") drawn from the group's FTE totals. A warning appears when the individual ALE flag does not match the group result — verify before transmitting because controlled-group rules generally require consistent filing.

Record offers of coverage

What it does: Captures the IRS Form 1095-C Line 14 code (offer of coverage) for each employee, for each month of the year.

Where: Accountant dashboard → ACA → coverage matrix.

Steps:

1. The matrix lists one row per employee with twelve month columns (Jan through Dec) and a Fill all action.
2. Click a cell and pick a code from the dropdown.
3. To set all twelve months for one employee, pick a code in the Bulk-fill all 12 months for an employee with code dropdown at the top, then click Fill <code> on the employee's row.

Who: Accountant or SMB owner.

Notes: Common Line 14 codes:

• 1A — Qualifying Offer
• 1E — MEC + MV to employee + spouse + dependents
• 1H — No offer

Common Line 16 (safe harbor) codes:

• 2A — not employed
• 2B — not full-time
• 2C — enrolled
• 2F / 2G / 2H — affordability safe harbors

Review the year's totals

What it does: Lets you scan the full matrix before flipping the filing status to Ready.

Where: Accountant dashboard → ACA → matrix view.

Steps:

1. Open the page at the right Tax year.
2. Scroll the matrix horizontally to compare each employee's monthly pattern.
3. Confirm every full-time employee has a non-1H code for each month they were employed and offered coverage.
4. Confirm every non-FT month carries the matching safe-harbor code on the Line 16 axis (the per-employee detail panel surfaces Line 16 next to Line 14).
5. Use the Filing status dropdown to move from draft to ready once review is complete.

Who: Accountant or SMB owner.

Notes: v1 captures the data; PDF generation and IRS AIR / IRIS transmittal are noted as coming. Keep filings in draft until the official transmittal flow opens, then re-export.

Aggregated ALE groups

What it does: Surfaces the controlled-group §4980H test result when this client belongs to a ClientGroup flagged is_aggregated_ale_group=true, so accountants see at a glance what the group-wide FTE math produces.

Where: Accountant dashboard → ACA → blue or amber banner at the top of the page.

Steps:

1. Open the page for a client that's part of an aggregated group.
2. The banner reads: Aggregated ALE group: <group name> — §4980H test (<N> FTEs across the group ≥ or < <threshold>) → IS an ALE or NOT an ALE.
3. Click the group name to jump to the group's overview (/client-groups/<id>).
4. Reconcile the individual is_ale checkbox on the filing envelope with the group result. If they disagree, the banner surfaces a warning in amber.

Who: Accountant.

Notes: Controlled-group rules generally require all members to file consistently. If the individual flag truly should differ from the aggregated result (e.g., the test changed mid-year), document the reasoning in the filing notes before transmitting.

Why this matters

What it does: Reminds you that ACA filing carries non-trivial penalties for missing or wrong codes.

Where: Year-end review with the client.

Steps:

1. Each missing or wrong 1095-C is its own §6722 penalty (up to ~$310 per form, adjusted annually).
2. Run the ACA matrix review every December before the W-2 cycle so any code corrections can happen before the IRS deadline.
3. Re-run the matrix in January if a contractor or employee was reclassified after year-end.

Who: Accountant.

Notes: This page tracks the data; the filing itself goes through the IRS AIR (paper-equivalent) or IRIS (1099 e-file pipeline reused for 1095) channel once the transmittal flow ships.

---

Related: Deductions & custom earnings · Year-end checklist.