Case Studies
All states. All sectors. All sizes. BenefitScape works with every possible kind of employer, adapting our specialist ACA reporting and compliance services to fit their specific individual needs and operations.
Below are three short Case Studies illustrating just some of the many flexible ways we work to make things as simple as possible for employers, saving them time, money, and valuable resources as well as eliminating costly errors and IRS Penalties.
If you would like insight on a specific sector, a certain stage, or individual task in the ACA reporting and compliance process, or examples of how BenefitScape can trouble-shoot specific challenges or penalties for employers, please contact us at info@benefitscape.com
For case studies on how BenefitScape partners with HCM and payroll platform providers or how we partner with benefit brokers, please also email info@benefitscape.com.
Trouble-Shooting Penalties
Trouble-Shooting Penalties
- LARGE EMPLOYER IN FINANCIAL SECTOR
- NYC-BASED WITH 20,000+ EMPLOYEES
- IN 20+ LOCATIONS ACROSS MULTIPLE STATES
- $MILLION+ PENALTIES PENDING FOR TAX YEAR 2019
- COMPLEX PROCESS & REPORTING ERRORS
- TIME & RESOURCE CHALLENGES
- TAX YEAR 2019 PENALTIES FULLY REMEDIATED
- TAX YEAR 2020 E-FILING ON-TIME 100% COMPLIANCE
- COST & RESOURCE SAVINGS
- NO HEADACHES
CHALLENGE
This employer has over 20,000 benefits-eligible employees across 6 FEINs in more than 20 locations within NY, NJ and DC. The company operates a wide range of different employment and benefits rules, including MULTIPLE MEDICAL PLANS.
Understandably, ACA reporting and compliance had posed a CHALLENGE for the employer, taking up time and valuable resources while still resulting in process and reporting errors.
The employer had received millions of dollars of IRS PENALTY NOTICES for tax year 2019 with a short window to respond, a process that involved reviewing thousands of enrolment records and reprocessing tax year 2019.
WHAT WE DID
BenefitScape appointed an experienced ACA CLIENT MANAGER to collaborate and capture all the relevant rules within their complex benefits structure.
Our TECH AND DATA TEAM meanwhile worked with the employer’s IT department to pinpoint all necessary data scattered across varied HCM, payroll, and other systems. These files were then delivered to BenefitScape in diverse formats native to each of these systems and loaded into ACAPro technology.
BenefitScape was able to draw on unrivalled ACA experience and ACAPro DIAGNOSTICS
to identify the issues and immediately outline for the employer a path to remediation for
all penalties.
BenefitScape ANALYZED AND RE-PROCESSED the employer’s tax year 2019 filing data, factoring in all the employer’s specific and complex employment scenarios – the cause behind most of the errors.
These scenarios include, for example:
- Employees transferring between 6 FEINs;
- Transfers between different types of medical plans;
- Adding/removing dependents from plan to plan.
BenefitScape next used ACAPro to run a PENALTY RISK ASSESSMENT and validate that the employer was now error-free.
Outcome
BenefitScape’s ESRP CONSULTING TEAM was able to correct the employer’s data and forms on file with the IRS plus all STATE-MANDATED FILINGS, remediating all the pending penalties at a very substantial saving to the employer.
For Tax Year 2020, BenefitScape carried out time and cost-saving ACA reporting, e-filing via the IRS AIR SYSTEM to secure 100% compliance on-time and error-free, including all STATE-MANDATED FILINGS.
No more ACA penalties or headaches for the employer.
Hours Tracking To E-Filing
Hours Tracking To E-Filing
- LARGE SCHOOL DISTRICT
- 90 SCHOOLS
- MANY DIFFERENT EMPLOYMENT & BENEFIT RULES
- MULTIPLE MEDICAL PLANS
- FULL-TIME, PART-TIME, VARIABLE HOURS & SEASONAL STAFF
- COMPLEX TRACKING & ELIGIBILITY DETERMINATION
- END-TO-END OUTSOURCING TO BENEFITSCAPE
- INCLUDING HOURS TRACKING ON-TIME & ZERO-ERROR IRS E-FILING
BenefitScape works for many schools and universities ranging in size from a few hundred employees to tens of thousands.
No two employers in this highly regulated EDUCATION SECTOR are the same. But since BenefitScape specializes exclusively in ACA reporting and compliance, there is no
employer scenario in any state or sector we are not equipped and experienced to tackle.
This specialist focus allows us to set up all aspects of our company for MAXIMUM FLEXIBILITY, configuring our services and technology to each employer’s specific needs, unique operations, and existing technologies, such as different HCM and payroll platforms.
CHALLENGE
One challenge that all schools do have in common, however, is a complex mix of FULL-TIME, PART-TIME, VARIABLE HOUR, AND SEASONAL EMPLOYEES. The large Georgia
school district in this case study is no exception, with 10,000 employees across 90 K-12 schools and a real mix of different employment and benefits rules. Not to mention different medical plans.
Under the ACA’s employer Shared Responsibility Provisions [ESRP], this school district as an Applicable Large Employer [ALE] must offer health coverage that meets MINIMUM ESSENTIAL COVERAGE [MEC] requirements to at least 95% of its full-time employees.
So far so good. But who constitutes a full-time employee can be complicated. A full-time employee is anyone who averages 30 or more hours of service per week or 130 hours
per month. For variable-hour, part-time, and seasonal employees, such as SCHOOL BUS DRIVERS OR CAFETERIA WORKERS, hours tracking and eligibility determination can be
complicated,
WHAT WE DO
To save on costly time and resources, as well as potential errors and IRS penalties, this employer outsources the entire end-to-end ACA reporting and compliance process to
BenefitScape, including on-going HOURS TRACKING OF EMPLOYEES.
Our TECH AND DATA TEAM worked with the employer’s IT department to pinpoint all the necessary data sources across varied HCM, Payroll, and other systems for both tracking and the entire reporting and compliance process. These files are delivered to BenefitScape in diverse existing formats and translated by us into ACAPro.
A dedicated BenefitScape ACA ACCOUNT MANAGER has also worked with the employer to capture all the complex employment and benefits rules to configure into ACAPro.
Hours Tracking To E-Filing
Our ACA specialists and smart ACAPro technology together enable BenefitScape to process accurately and cost-effectively all the monthly data needed to track employee hours and determine when ELIGIBILITY THRESHOLDS have been met and health coverage needs to be offered.
This tracking also captures when an employee transfers in and out of eligible status during the year as well as such scenarios as transfers between different medical plans or the
adding/removal of dependents.
OUTCOME
Hours tracking and eligibility determination feed seamlessly into all the other stages of ACA reporting and compliance carried out by BenefitScape for this school district,
including the creation and distribution to employees of over 7,200 FORM 1095S.
[You can download our stage-by-stage ACA AT-A-GLANCE guide here.]
Prior to final e-filing via the IRS AIR SYSTEM, BenefitScape runs ACAPro’s PENALTY RISK ASSESSMENT. This ensures that each year this large and complex school district
is guaranteed on-time penalty-free 100% ACA COMPLIANCE for both IRS and State-Mandated filings.
All relevant project data and artifacts, including the final IRS Transmission Receipt, are delivered as a FINAL DIGITAL PACKAGE to the employer and also securely archived by
BenefitScape should future forensic validation of compliance be needed.
Monthly Data Streaming
Monthly Data Streaming
- COLLEGE LOCATED IN NEW ENGLAND
- APPROXIMATELY 1,000 EMPLOYEES
- SINGLE HCM/PAYROLL SYSTEM
- YEAR-END ACA SCRAMBLE TO REPORT
- TIME, ACCURACY, AND RESOURCE CHALLENGES
- ERROR DELAYS AND PENALTY RISKS
- REPORTING AND COMPLIANCE OUTSOURCED TO BENEFITSCAPE
- MONTHLY DATA STREAMING FOR ADDED EFFICIENCY
- NO HEADACHES, NO ERRORS, NO PENALTIES
CHALLENGE
This New England elite liberal arts college faced TIME AND RESOURCE CHALLENGES to carry out an annual ACA reporting and compliance scramble. In November 2019 it turned to BenefitScape for full-service outsourcing, sending BenefitScape a year of native demographic and enrollment data.
2020 e-Filing was completed on time and with no penalties – but still a bit of a year-end sprint for the college’s own benefits staff to ensure the accuracy of source data, review, and validate assigned IRS codes. On top of that, the college foresaw MANY CHANGES FOR THE FOLLOWING YEAR, including a shift to a self-insured medical plan and personnel changes in some key roles.
WHAT WE DID
BenefitScape and the college switched from an annual ACA process to a MONTHLY DATA STREAM — where the college automatically and securely sends monthly data to BenefitScape from their HCM system and COBRA vendor.
BenefitScape consumes the data and shares a MONTHLY ERRORS WARNING/REPORT with the employer as well as a color-coded results report, offering a bird’s eye view of the entire employee population with highlighted areas of potential concern.
BenefitScape carries out SHORT MONTHLY REVIEWS of these reports with the college’s benefits staff to confirm test scenarios and correct any anomalies, such as bad ZIP code data, in the source system.
Outcome
For TY ending TT2021, THE YEAR-END SCRAMBLE WAS TOTALLY ELIMINATED. During Q1, when the college’s benefits staff is under most pressure, BenefitScape works with the team quickly and easily on final validations, produces the forms well ahead of the IRS deadline, and files with the IRS and state authorities as required with zero errors.
In short, monthly processing enables an even more STREAMLINED, 100% ACCURATE, AND SIMPLIFIED ACA process.
