ACA reporting: Why 12 minutes is such an important metric

by Jared Bilski

If you’re wondering how long the actual ACA reporting process is likely to take, the IRS may be able to help.

When the Service released the final instructions for 1095-C reporting, it included another critical piece of information: The amount of time its likely to take employers to complete each ACA return.

The IRS estimates it’ll take employers an average of 12 minutes to complete each 1095-C return.

12 X 50, 100, 150 …

When you consider that at the bare minimum, employers subject to the ACA reporting requirements will be completing 50 returns, the reporting process is a significant time commitment. At 12 minutes per form, those 50 returns should take 600 minutes or 10 hours to complete.

Of course, this is just an estimate and, considering this is a brand-new, high-stakes process, it’s likely to take many employers longer than the average amount of time the IRS estimates. Still, the estimate does help give you some type of perspective on the time-commitment necessary for the actual reporting process.

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