Health Insurance reform has changed from year to year, at both the federal and state levels. Effective November 2018, any Massachusetts employer with six or more employees is required to complete a new Health Insurance Responsibility Disclosure (HIRD) form to determine eligibility for premium assistance for employees who receive group insurance. The form is filed online through the MassTaxConnect account, and is available beginning November 15th with a due date of December 15th. Note that the new form is entirely different from the Employer HIRD form that was required from 2007-2013.
You are required to file if you reported six or more employees on the Quarterly Employment and Wage Detail report in any of the previous twelve months, from December of the previous year through November of the current year. Further information is available on the mass.gov website. You may wish to use our form to determine if you are required to file.
Each employer should have received an email regarding this new reporting requirement. The notice was sent to the email address connected to your MassTaxConnect account, which employers must use to report quarterly wages and make withholding tax deposits. If you did not receive this notice, you should verify that your email is correctly recorded here: https://mtc.dor.state.ma.us/mtc/_/
If you had six or more employees during any of the past twelve months, then log in to your MassTaxConnect account, click on “Withholding Tax” in the lower left, and then on “File Health Insurance Responsibility Disclosure” under “I Want To …” in the upper right. If you don’t offer health insurance, the form is simple to complete. If you do offer insurance, you will have to answer questions about your coverage and the benefit you offer.
If you do offer insurance, collect the following information, before filing as above:
- Name of Health Insurance provider and group number
- Your organization’s policy about who is eligible for insurance
- Your organization’s policy about what portion of the premiums is paid by employee and by employer
- Open enrollment period dates
- Dates of the next policy year (or current year if next year’s rates are not yet available)
- Monthly rates for all types of the plan (individual, dual, employee plus children, family)
- Annual deductible for all types of the plan
- Annual out-of-pocket maximum for all types of the plan
The report is due by December 15th each year.