U.S. Affordable Care Act (ACA) Information Reporting 2016

[former_member109388]

Hello community,

This is our U.S. Affordable Care Act (ACA) Information Reporting 2016 blog post.

If you have questions about 2016 ACA reporting, you can post it here.

This blog will be updated with tips and SAP Notes related to this subject.

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More information about the planned legal change please read the SAP note below:

2359091 - Announcement Note for Affordable Care Act Information Reporting 2016
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Kind regards,

Roger Oliveira

[anitha_paul]

Hello All,

I was not part of the ACA reporting last year, but I have to help HR dept with the filing this year.

HR dept did all the six steps successfully in Production, but when they try to upload the file in IRS website, they get the option to load the AATS version of the files. Do we need to do the test again this year? We successfully tested and loaded the production files last year.

Thanks,

Anitha

 

 

[debbieb_bcps]

Hi, All,

We have been trying to print our 2016 forms, but the Person Collect Data transaction is running excruciatingly slow.  Last year a job set up for 10,000 PERNRs took 35,000 - 47,000 seconds, while this year a job set up for 300 PERNRs took 8,000 seconds (about 8 times slower).

Has anyone else experienced such a huge slowdown? If yes, do you have any suggestions for speeding up the process?

Thanks,

Debbie B

[anitha_paul]

We were using the wrong link to upload the production file.

Now that we loaded the file, it got rejected with SchemaErro - The value " of element 'JanSafeHarborCd' is not valid.

Any idea how to correct it?

[anitha_paul]

Hi Joelle,

 

We are experiencing the same issue. How did you resolve this?

Our file got rejected and the error shows the same as you listed.

 

Thanks,

Anitha

[former_member207070]

Anitha,

We had same issue.  Deb S pointed me to correct note...Try note 2410470 which specifically mentions this issue.

Good Luck

Mike P

[anitha_paul]

Thanks Mike. I will ask Basis team to apply the note.

After  applying the note, do we need to execute all 6 ACA steps in Production, to download the XML file?

Do we need to apply note 2419025 which will be released on Feb 24th before uploading the XML file to IRS?

Regards,

Anitha

[anitha_paul]

Thanks Mike.

I will ask Basis team to apply the note.

Do we need to apply note 2419025 which will be released on Feb 24th before downloading the XML file? Also, do we need to execute all 6 ACA processes to download the corrected XML file?

Regards,

Anitha

 

[debbieb_bcps]

Hi,

Just thought I'd give a head's up - our team figured out the cause of the slowdown.

There is a function module/cost user exit for the health plans being called that is slowing down the data collection. Since we haven't touched that user exit in years, something changed with the ACA notes.

Debbie B

[Euna]

Hello,

 

I've must have missed something. I don't have line 14 filled after employees who terminated in the mid-year.

I've noticed some of you had the same problem. If you have resolved the issue, would you please give me an advice where I should look?

 

Thank you in advance.

Euna

[Euna]

Ok. I think it's the feature UBABC. Hope it fixes the problem. Fingers crossed.  🙂

 

Thank you.

Euna

[former_member87421]

 

Hello Community,

Version 1.5 of the SAP ACA User Guide for 2016 is now available in SAP Note 2359091 – Announcement Note for Affordable Care Act Information Reporting 2016.

Regards,
Virginia

[MWest]

Hello Community,

SAP Note 2419025 - ACA: 2016 6th Update SAP Note is now available, which is required for the Replacement Process when your transmissions or submissions have been rejected by IRS AIR. For more information on the planned delivery roadmap and suggested order of SAP Note implementation, please see SAP Note 2359091 - Announcement Note for Affordable Care Act Information Reporting 2016.

Regards,

Margaret

 

[debbieb_bcps]

Hi,

We cannot generate a form 1094c for 2016, although we can still generate a form for 2015.

I looked at SPRO to see if there is a place to add a form for 2016, but can't see it in the ACA menu. We are not using the BADi for the 1094C form because we have only one ALE and one 1094C, but we are using the BADi for the Covered Individual and the BADi for the Offer.

Did anyone else have a problem generating a form 1094C for 2016? If yes, how did you resolve the issue?



Thanks,

Debbie B

[mraffel]

Debbie,

 

I just did a test run in production and the 1094-C form was created successfully.

Did you transport the new form (HRBENUS_1094C_2016) to production?

 

Best regards,

Mathias Raffel

[debbieb_bcps]

Mathias,

I thought that the form version might be the problem, but we have applied all SAP notes except for the ACA 5th Update. Is there a manual step that we have to do to get the correct form in place?

In watching our ABAP programmer using the debugger it appears that the form name HRBENUS_1094c_2016 assigns function module /1BCDWB/SM00000065 which points to a 1095 form, hence the mismatch.

I opened an incident (#94745) and am waiting to hear from SAP.

Debbie B

[mraffel]

Dear all,

our 1094-C form shows TOTAL_COUNT (line 20) of 1139 1095-C forms.

But we printed 1141 1095-C forms.

Can you please point me to the logic where and how the TOTAL_COUNT is calculated?
Thanks and best regards,

Mathias Raffel

[mraffel]

I think I figured it out. We have two dependents that are on COBRA and the program logic does not count these two forms for the dependents. Not sure if that is correct. Are we not transmitting the forms for the dependents to the IRS?
Thanks and best regards,

Mathias Raffel

[debbieb_bcps]

Mathias,

We are submitting forms for COBRA dependents to the IRS, but we are self-insured so our requirements may be different.

Our COBRA dependents who are not tied to an employee or former employee who is getting a 1095C will be getting a 1095B. We have approximately 75 forms of this nature. We create these forms outside of SAP (using Filemaker Pro) because our COBRA is handled by a third party and none of these dependents are in SAP.

I believe that there is a BADi to change the counts on the 1094C.

In the User Guide:

2.10.3.1 INPUT_ALE_DATA method

You can use the method INPUT_ALE_DATA in this BAdI to change data stored in the database by the Collect Data for ALEs (HRBENUS_ACA_ALE) report for column B (Full-Time Employee Count) and C (Total Employee Count) of Part III (ALE Member Information – Monthly) in Form 1094-C. You can also change statistic information used by the Check Results and Set Data for Submission to IRS (HRBENUS_ACA_EVAL) report

Debbie B

[mraffel]

Thanks Debbie,

yes, a little bit different scenario. Strange as well that the XML  Submission has Form1094CAttchedCnt as 1141 and TotalForm1095CALEMemberCnt as 1139.

Thanks for the reminder about the BAdI, but I hope the standard functionality will cover the correct numbers.

I created an incident with SAP.

Thanks and best regards,

Mathias Raffel

[mraffel]

Dear all!

For  the 1094-C Part III, column (c), did we ever find out which IRS prescribed method SAP has adopted for the FTE count if any?

Thanks and best regards.

Mathias Raffel

From the IRS web page:

https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i109495c/ar01.html#d0e911

Column (c) Total Employee Count for ALE Member.   Enter the total number of all of the ALE Member’s employees, including full-time employees and non-full-time employees, and employees in a Limited Non-Assessment Period, for each calendar month. An ALE Member must choose to use one of the following days of the month to determine the number of employees per month and must use that day for all months of the year: (1) the first day of each month; (2) the last day of each month; (3) the 12th day of each month; (4) the first day of the first payroll period that starts during each month; or (5) the last day of the first payroll period that starts during each month (provided that for each month that last day falls within the calendar month in which the payroll period starts). If the total number of employees was the same for every month of the entire calendar year, enter that number in line 23, column (c) “All 12 Months” or in the boxes for each month of the calendar year. If the number of employees for any month is zero, enter “0.”

[debbieb_bcps]

Hi, Roger and Margaret,

We are getting ready to apply SAP ACA note 2419025 - ACA 2016 6th Update SAP Note.

In looking at the implementation list contained in note 2359091 - Announcement Note for ACA Information Reporting 2016, all of the pre-reqs are listed in the order of application, except for note 2326002 - ACA: Incorrect Contact Telephone Number on Forms 1095.

When should 2326002 be applied? After note 2410470 - the 5th Update (#22 on the implementation list) and before note 2423658 (#23 on the implementation list)?

Thanks,

Debbie B

[mraffel]

Debbie,

just FYI, when I installed the 6th update note with trxn SNOTE, three prerequisite notes were loaded (2326002, 2425438, 2425688) and I let SNOTE handle the installation.

Best,

Mathias

[debbieb_bcps]

Thank you, Mathias, we were able to apply all of the outstanding notes. We did get an error message that note 2425438 could not be implemented but then it was systematically applied with the notes 2433058 and 2419025.

Debbie B

[MWest]

Hello Mathias,

This configuration option can be handled in Feature UBAIC.

Regards,

Margaret

[former_member87421]

 

Hello Community,

Version 1.6 of the SAP ACA User Guide for 2016 is now available in SAP Note 2359091 – Announcement Note for Affordable Care Act Information Reporting 2016.

Regards,
Virginia

[nancy_brister]

We completed our testing last year, therefore, we were not required to test again this year. We have applied notes through 2423658. We tried to submit our XML file today and received the error TPE 1006. The manifest file does not match our current schema. In particular, our system has detected a potential issue with the following element(s): ContactPhoneNum.  When I reviewed our manifest file I can see that our business name is our designated government entity not reading our tax company.  Also, our contact person is also our designated government entity not the information configured as the ACA contact person. Our 1094-C form is correct and the 1095-c file has the correct business name and contact information. It appears to be just the manifest XML file with the issue.  I reviewed features UBARA and UBATA. They have not changed from last year.  Also, my configuration for ALE reporting have the correct address keys. Can anyone direct me on where to start looking?

[MWest]

Hello Nancy,

Could you please check that you have installed all Notes listed in SAP Note 2359091?

In addition, these educational videos on how to configure the Authoritative Transmittal requirements for ALE members for reporting year 2016 might be helpful:

1. Video 1: SAP ACA Information Reporting – ALE Member Filing a Single Form 1094-C


2. Video 2: SAP ACA Information Reporting – ALE Member Filing Two Forms 1094-C


3. Video 3: SAP ACA Information Reporting – Aggregated ALE Group

Regards,

Margaret

[kai_mattern2]

Hi Peter,

where you able to solve the error 1095C-012-01?

If Form 1095C ‘AnnualOfferOfCoverageCd’ does not have a value, then all occurrences of ‘MonthlyOfferCoverageGrp’ (JanOfferCd through DecOfferCd) must have a value

becasue we have the same error on four of our employees.

Best regards,

Kai

 

[jennifer_stnons]

 

Mathias--have you had a response from SAP on this incident.  I'm having same issue and developer says BADI doesn't give all necessary parameters for him to make change so it will be very time consuming to fix this one number.

[stephanie_plastino]

Margaret,

We submitted our XML files last week.  We have one ALE but with 86,000 employees, it creates 10 XML files, 7 of which were Accepted with Errors.  3 of our files were rejected due to an invalid character (an accent mark) in either the name or address.    When I generate the replacement files, we have several employees (none of whom originally caused the rejection) who are receiving the error "Employee XXXXXXX has changes although submission status is rejected".  This is causing them to be excluded from the replacement file.   I assume this is due to a change to the employee between the time the original data was generated and when the XML was created.  It's my understanding that the replacement file must contain everyone who was on the original file.  How can we accomplish this short of removing the changes that were made to these employees?.

Thanks,

Steph

 

[former_member284017]

Good morning Margaret.  We completed our replacement file before this note was available but now we need to submit a correction file due to mismatch TINs.  I am having difficulty with the process.  Do we need SAP note 2419025 to complete this process as well?

I have studied the user guide (all versions) and attempted to follow the correction steps but I am getting an error Message No. HRYPAYUS_MESSAGES602 - Database entry not found with table key APPL:ACA RUNID:000000000000000000.  Our current run ID is 00000000004. Perhaps you can confirm the necessary steps.

When I run transaction HRBENUS_ACA_EVAL for run id 4 there is no data shown for Employee Status Information but previously this information was populated.

Any help is most appreciated.  We only have 29 errors remaining and put this process to rest for 2016 filing year.

Regards,

Debbie

[mraffel]

Thank you Margaret!

Can anybody share their UBAIC for counting either according to option (1) first day of the month or option (2) last day of the month. I looked at the feature but i am a little dense figuring it out.

Thanks and best regards,

Mathias

[former_member284017]

Good morning - can anyone help with my issue below?  We are close to completing our process for this year but have hit a snag.  Thanks in advance.

 

debbie.satterfield

Good morning Margaret.  We completed our replacement file before this note was available but now we need to submit a correction file due to mismatch TINs.  I am having difficulty with the process.  Do we need SAP note 2419025 to complete this process as well?

I have studied the user guide (all versions) and attempted to follow the correction steps but I am getting an error Message No. HRYPAYUS_MESSAGES602 – Database entry not found with table key APPL:ACA RUNID:000000000000000000.  Our current run ID is 00000000004. Perhaps you can confirm the necessary steps.

When I run transaction HRBENUS_ACA_EVAL for run id 4 there is no data shown for Employee Status Information but previously this information was populated.

Any help is most appreciated.  We only have 29 errors remaining and put this process to rest for 2016 filing year.

Regards,

Debbie

 

[AngelaJackson]

 

Hi Debbie,

I am also experiencing the same database entry error. I opened an incident and is still waiting for a response.

Angela

[paynea]

Good afternoon all,

Sorry if this is a repeat but wanted to ask if anyone seen this when sending their first file for 2017?  

This was our C file and was rejected immediately.

We got this on 3 employees only. 

<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″ standalone=”yes”?>

<ns3:FormBCTransmitterSubmissionDtl xmlns=”urn:us:gov:treasury:irs:ext:aca:air:ty16″ xmlns:ns2=”urn:us:gov:treasury:irs:common” xmlns:ns3=”urn:us:gov:treasury:irs:msg:form1094-1095BCtransmittermessage”>

<ACATransmitterSubmissionDetail>

<TransmitterErrorDetailGrp>

<SchemaErrorInfo>The value ‘Beechanahalli Sadashiva Rao’ of element ‘PersonLastNm’ is not valid.</SchemaErrorInfo>

<ns2:ErrorMessageDetail>

<ns2:ErrorMessageCd>AIRSH100</ns2:ErrorMessageCd>

<ns2:ErrorMessageTxt>XML Schema Validation Failed – not well formed or missing required elements</ns2:ErrorMessageTxt>

<ns2:XpathContent>/Form109495CTransmittalUpstream/Form1094CUpstreamDetail/Form1095CUpstreamDetail/EmployeeInfoGrp/OtherCompletePersonName/PersonLastNm/’PersonLastNm[lineNum:1]</ns2:XpathContent>

</ns2:ErrorMessageDetail>

</TransmitterErrorDetailGrp>

<TransmitterErrorDetailGrp>

<SchemaErrorInfo>The value ‘Beechanahalli Sadashiva Rao’ of element ‘PersonLastNm’ is not valid.</SchemaErrorInfo>

<ns2:ErrorMessageDetail>

[former_member284017]

 

Thanks for your response Angela.  At least I know we are not alone.  Please be so kind to share the solution once you hear back.

Thanks.

Debbie

[mraffel]

Hi Angela,

glad to see that y'all are already filing. We are not there yet, so I have not see this error.

Since it states 'XML Schema Validation Failed', I am curious if y'all ran the validation step from note 2393903 and if that validation check would have caught this error at all.

Thanks and best regards,

Mathias

[paynea]

Hi Mathias,

I did not do this, I should have.  I think it is due to their names are too long.  I am researching that now.  Our B forms were accepted with errors thank goodness.  I may remove these 5 people from my C forms and generate them on a separate run id later.

Thanks

Angela

[Former Member]

Hello all,

Has anyone been successful in getting their 1095C forms to print in duplex mode?  That is the issue we are fighting at the moment.  We have gone through making a Z-form in Adobe and changing the duplex settings there, but thus far we have not gotten the duplex to work.

 

Thanks, and best regards...

Al Ling

[debbieb_bcps]

Hi, Roger and Margaret,

We produced our 1095C forms and are working on creating the XML file. We applied all of the most recent notes to our development (XED) and QA (XEQ) systems (notes: 2423658, 2424361, 2429213, 2425688, 2425438, 2433058, 2419025)

In testing we noted that one of our employees whose form is correct in PROD (1E/2C for months 1-5 and 1G/2A for months 6-12) is now incorrect in XED and XEQ (1G for all 12 months and no code for line 16).

We believe that the cause of the change is the note 2425688, as it inserts code after the BADI generates the correct codes.

I have opened an incident: #113778 / 2017 ACA form 1095C Line 14 Code incorrect after applying note 2425688.

I listed it as Very High since we need to correct this issue in order to move the notes to PROD and submit the XML file, which has a deadline of March 31st.

Thank you for your assistance,

Debbie B

 

[mraffel]

Dear all,

we just created the XML files (trxn HRBENUS_ACA_XML) and submitted them to the IRS ("accepted with errors" I just learned).

BUT in trxn HRBENUS_ACA_EVAL I do not have any submission information. Nada!

This worked in development and the systems have the same notes applied.

Any ideas?

 

Thanks and best regards,

Mathias Raffel

P.S. I will go ahead an open and incident.

[MWest]

Hello Debbie,

Please ensure that you have applied all Notes listed in SAP Note 2359091.

For the steps to process Corrections for your scenario, please see latest version of the ACA User Guide Section 3.5.2. in SAP Note 2359091.

Note: For the first step, run HRBENUS_ACA_EVAL, make sure you enter the Original RunID when you update the Submission ID Status and Receipt ID provided by the IRS.

We were not able to reproduce your error by following the process above. If you are still encountering the error after following the process above, please open an incident under PA-PA-US-BN with details and variants to recreate the issue and we will look into it.

Regards,

Margaret

[MWest]

Hello Steph,

Thanks for the discussion and additional details. As mentioned, the Replacement Process is defined in Section 3.8 of the latest ACA User Guide in SAP Note 2359091 and we will look for your incident.

Regards,

Margaret

[MWest]

Hello Debbie,

We have your incident and will reply to your incident.

Regards,

Margaret

[MWest]

Hello Mathias,

We will look into your incident.

Regards,

Margaret

[paynea]

Hi Mathias,

We have submitted all of our as well and also received Accepted with Errors.  I went to look and I can see the place where you update submission.



I hope you can find it.  Congrats on the submissions too!  We are under a 5% error rate as well!

 

Thanks

Angela

[mraffel]

Good morning Angela!

Thanks for the feedback! That's how it looks for us in development/test.
But in production the submission information node is grayed out and no details are available.

I thought development is OK but even that seems not complete. Under the submission node there should be the XML data notes. That's were we before could easily find EE# related to recordID for the IRS error troubleshooting. But those XML nodes are missing too (see as well chapter 3.2.1.1 of the user guide.



Thanks and best regards,

Mathias

[debbieb_bcps]

Thank you, Margaret, Roger called me about 15 minutes after I submitted our incident. We truly appreciate your immediate assistance.

Debbie B

[RohitAggarwal]

Good Morning Everyone,

We are trying to generate XML files in our Sandbox system and Dev it is downloading files with the "TEST" in the file name. Is it normal? Please advise.

Thank you,

Rohit Aggarwal

 

[MWest]

Hello Rohit,

The TEST extension to the file name was added in SAP Note 2333521 to prevent test files from non-production systems to be sent to IRS AIR.

Regards,

Margaret