ACA Validation Errors Guide
The ACA - Validation report is designed to assist your organization in identifying any errors/warnings that may exist in the setup of your ACA Records. This article outlines errors/warnings that may appear on this report and how to resolve them.
Note: The ACA - Validation report is designed to assist in identifying common errors, but it will not pick up all possible errors, such as an employee being assigned to the wrong group, status, or participation. As such, a thorough review of all ACA Records is needed in addition to running this report. See Maintaining your ACA Records for more information on steps that can be taken to ensure your records are compliant.
Company Setup Errors
| Message | Description | Solution |
| No ACA Cost and Compliance Records Exist |
Cost and Compliance records outline critical plan details related to the lowest-cost single health plan offered to employees and serve as a roadmap to generating codes on Form 1095-C. This error message means that there are no Cost and Compliance Records setup for the selected reporting year. |
Navigate to HR Admin → ACA Center → Setup → Cost & Compliance and add a new Cost and Compliance record for the applicable plan year. See ACA Center: Cost and Compliance Setup for more information on creating Cost and Compliance records. |
| Full Year Cost and Compliance Records Do Not Exist |
Cost and Compliance records outline critical plan details related to the lowest cost single health plan offered to employees and serves as a roadmap to generating codes on form 1095-C. This error message means that not all months of the selected reporting year are covered by Cost and Compliance records. Best Practice: If you have not reached your annual benefit plan renewal, you can disregard this error until your plan renews. However, we highly recommend you add your new Cost and Compliance record as part of your annual renewal process. |
Navigate to the HR Admin → ACA Center → Setup → Cost & Compliance and add new Cost & Compliance records for months not accounted for. See ACA Center: Cost and Compliance Setup for more information on creating Cost and Compliance records. |
Employee Setup Errors
| Message | Description | Solution |
| Full Year of Status Records Do Not Exist |
ACA Employee Status records create a timeline that the system uses to translate coding onto Form 1095-C for each month of the year. As such, status records must cover all months of the reporting year. This error message indicates that not all months of the reporting year are covered, resulting in incomplete data being entered on Form 1095-C. Status records must start on the 1st of the month and end on the last day of the month. Best practice: Set the end date on the employee’s current status to 12/31/2100. |
Navigate to HR Admin → ACA Center → Employee Status. Select the employee and identify any gaps in the employee’s status records for the reporting year. Add a new status record for the missing dates. Select Save. See ACA Center: Employee Status for more information. |
| No Status Records Exist |
ACA Employee Status records create a timeline that the system uses to translate coding onto Form 1095-C for each month of the year. As such, status records must cover all months of the reporting year. Status records must be applied to all employees who worked in the reporting year, regardless of benefit eligibility. This error message indicates that the employee worked in the reporting year but does not have an Employee Status record applied. Status records must start on the 1st of the month and end on the last day of the month. Best practice: Set the end date on the employee’s current status to 12/31/2100. |
This error most commonly results from not assigning the employee status to a new hire. Navigate to HR Admin → ACA Center → Employee Status. Next, find the employee and add any missing statuses in the reporting year. See ACA Center: Employee Status for more information. |
| Participation Missing From Status Record |
This error message means that the employee’s status record was identified as being “Eligible” for health insurance, but does not indicate if the employee “Enrolled” or “Waived” coverage. Note: If the employee has not made their election decision, this error message can be disregarded until a decision is made. |
Navigate to HR Admin → ACA Center → Employee Status. Select the employee, select the "Eligible" status, and in the Details section, set the Participation to “Enrolled” or “Waived”. Select Save. See ACA Center: Employee Status for more information. |
| Termed Employee Still Has Active Status Record |
This error message indicates that the employee has been terminated, but the current ACA Employee Status record reflects that the employee is still active. Note: There are some instances where this error message can be disregarded, e.g., when an employee is on a leave of absence but is still eligible for insurance. |
This most commonly results from missing employee being terminated when no active Cost & Compliance record exists. Navigate to HR Admin → ACA Center → Employee Status. Select the employee, select Add New, set the Status to "Not Employed - For Everyday of Month" and enter the status' Begin Date based on the plan’s termination rules. See ACA Center: Employee Status for more information. |
| Not Assigned to an ACA Employee Group | ACA Employee Groups define which Cost & Compliance records apply to each employee. All employees must be assigned to an ACA Employee Group. |
Navigate to HR Admin → ACA Center → Employee Group. Select the Assignment icon for the group to which you want to assign the employee and select the Assign checkbox beside the employee’s name. Select Save. See HR Setup: Employee Group for more information. |
Note: This is not a comprehensive list of potential ACA validation errors. For further assistance, please contact the Checkwriters ACA Team at ACATeam@checkwriters.com.