To be eligible to use the 98% Offer Method, an employer must
certify that they offered affordable health coverage providing minimum value to
at least 98% of those employees whom they are filing a1095-C for, as well as
offering minimum essential coverage to those employees’ dependents.
The employer is not required to identify which of the employees for whom it is filing were full-time employees, but the employer is still required, under the general reporting rules, to file Forms 1095-C on behalf of all employees who were full-time for one or more months of the calendar year. Fortunately, by correctly completing your Employee Datasheet, ACA Track can determine for you which employees require a 1095-C form and which do not.
Note that when calculating the 98%, you must take into account all months during which these individuals were employees and were not in a Limited Non-Assessment Period. When assessing affordability, health coverage is considered affordable only if it meets one of the section 4980H affordability safe harbors.
Example: If you employ 325 employees and 25 of them could not possibly be full-time employees because they are scheduled to work 10 hours per week and are not eligible for additional hours, that leaves you with 300 employees who could have been full-time during the year. If you offer affordable minimum value coverage to 295 of those employees for all periods during which they are employed (other than any applicable waiting period, which qualifies as a Limited Non-Assessment Period) and file a Form 1095-C for each of the 300 potentially full-time employees, you can use the 98% Offer Method (since 295 is over 98% of 300).
Please note that ACA Track cannot provide legal or tax advice. We recommend speaking with your HR Team and/or legal counsel before determining whether or not your company is eligible to utilize the 98% Offer Method.