HCM Provider simplifies their clients’ ACA reporting requirements using ACAwise.

"Staying ACA compliant does involve quite a bit of planning, preparation, and collaborative efforts, especially when you are handling more than 100+ clients employees across various industries. Overwhelmed with handling payroll and employee benefits for our clients, we were looking to partner with a solution provider who would work in tandem with our compliance team to meet our ACA responsibilities. ACAwise was able to provide a comprehensive such solution that met our expectations."

- Senior Vice-President, HCM

The customer is a Human Capital Management (HCM) service provider and has a client base of 100+ across industries with over 10000 employee count. They experienced difficulty in managing clients’ data, in cutting down the process timelines, and in lowering the rejection rates of ACA filings. To overcome these, they partnered with ACAwise, a cloud-based SAAS software, for a comprehensive solution to meet their ACA reporting requirements.

Removing blocks in data handling- Any data, Multiple formats

The solution offered by ACAWISE can handle clients’ data in multiple formats- be it in PDF (digitized 1095 Forms), Excel, CSV, tab-delimited, or XML with ACA codes- for which customizable tools were built to process the data and import them into ACAwise. We validate the data against IRS business rules, and ACA schemas to identify any errors.

The ACAwise solution is proactive in carrying out one of the pre-validation exercises- TIN matching, to bring down the rejection rates post the filing with the IRS. USPS address validation is done to make sure the recipient addresses are correct, ensuring the postal mail copies sent by us reach the right address.

For missing data, corrections, or any clarifications, the support team at ACAwise would establish communication directly with the clients and get things sorted out.

"We have clients providing us the healthcare plan coverage information from different platforms, with different file formats and data characteristics. The solution from ACAwise converts data of any file format or characteristics for us to process the data further."

- Systems Engineer, HCM

Sharing workloads - Establish an exclusive channel for Client review

There were several rounds of validation- both at the process and outcome levels- to make sure the complex scenarios are not goofed up. And, for that, the data must be reviewed before being shared with the IRS. Realistically, the HCM provider can't sift through the thousands of form data of their clients. It is ideal only if the clients review their data and record feedback. For which, the ACAWISE has built a review system that allows HCM provider to give their clients access to a secure portal for review and data corrections, thereby reducing the workload.

“I cannot even imagine switching from ACAwise to a different provider for my clients’ ACA compliance reporting. I am able to share the workload with my clients by having them review their recipient data and interact directly with the ACAwise support team for any corrections.”

- VP of Operations, HCM

ACA Reporting Feedback

Client reviews made easy: Collaboration with ACAwise support team

The clients will directly interact with the ACAwise support team to resolve issues such as missing or incorrect data during the review process. All communications and file-sharing will be through a secure network. Once the client verifies the data and gives the go-ahead, the ACAwise begin to generate the forms with ACA codes to file with the IRS.

One doesn’t need to wait for approvals from all clients to e-file with the IRS. We will e-file as and when they are ready.

"We know our employees’ data well. ACAwise provides a secure portal for us to review the data and record our observations."

- A Client of HCM

A unified ACAwise control panel to track progress

The control panel offers the HCM provider a bird’s eye view on the current status of forms- whether it’s in-progress, transmitted, yet-to-be transmitted, rejected, or under review. They can also have a look at the communications between the client and the ACAwise support team- this is to identify the hold-ups on deliverables. They can also view the forms submitted with the IRS for each client. Rejected returns, if any, can be amended right from the control panel.

"With just a glance, I am able to track the progress status of all my clients’ returns."

- VP, Employee Benefits Program, HCM

ACA Reporting Feedback

E-File and Postal Mail Recipient copies

Once the clients give the go-ahead post review, the returns are e-filed with the IRS through the AIR UI system. The HCM provider monitors the status of the returns for each client on the ACAwise control panel. Corrections are allowed on the ones that error out after transmitting with the IRS. Amendments are permitted for the ones which are accepted by the IRS.

The ACAwise solution ensures the postal mail copies reach the recipients before the deadline. The USPS address validation done as part of the pre-validation step ensures it is delivered to the right address.

In conclusion, the ACAwise solution adopts a collaborative approach involving the HCM provider and their clients’ to streamline process flow through regular follow-ups, push for quick turnarounds, and connected reviews to simplify the ACA reporting process. The result was a drastic drop in the rejection rates of ACA filings compared to previous years.