The IRS is preparing new regulations to help avoid duplicate reporting of an individual's minimum essential coverage when there is reasonable certainty that the provider of the "primary" coverage will report.
The new guidance would clarify that if an individual is covered by multiple minimum essential coverage plans from the same provider, reporting is required for only one of them. In addition, reporting is generally not required for an individual's minimum essential coverage if the individual has other minimum essential coverage for which reporting is required.
The IRS provided an example: if an employee is enrolled in both her employer's Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) and insured group health plan, the employer would not required to report the employee's coverage under the HRA.
However, if that employee is enrolled in her employer's HRA and in a spouse's non-HRA group health plan, her employer would be required to report for the HRA, and the employee's spouse's employer (or the health insurance issuer or carrier, if the plan is insured) would be required to report for the non-HRA group health plan coverage.
The IRS also plans to issue regulations requiring issuers of catastrophic health insurance plans to report the coverage on Form 1095-B, Health Coverage. The IRS indicated that the reporting requirement would apply to coverage in 2016 and to returns and statements filed in 2017.