The Affordable Care Act will affect the way individuals and families file their taxes starting next year, with a new tax form and a requirement for the university to report dependent tax identification information to the Internal Revenue Service.
In 2016, the university will provide a new tax document, Form 1095, to all faculty, staff, retirees, fellowship holders, students and survivors who were eligible for health benefits in 2015.
Form 1095 reports information about health care coverage during the tax year. The information reported on Form 1095 will help the IRS enforce the tax provisions of health care reform, including tax penalties for individuals who do not have qualifying health care coverage.
The Affordable Care Act requires large employers like the university to include Social Security numbers for individuals and their covered dependents under the new tax reporting. This requirement extends to all covered dependents, including children. The university has not required a dependent’s Social Security number to enroll in a health plan in the past, except for a spouse or Other Qualified Adult.
Although the university is required to request dependent Social Security numbers to meet the new IRS reporting requirements, coverage under a U-M health plan is not affected and will not be canceled if a member does not provide the information. The university will report the dependent’s date of birth to the IRS if a Social Security number cannot be obtained after multiple requests.
University Human Resources will send requests for missing dependent Social Security numbers by email over the next several months. The email will include a link to a dependent information form and instructions to return it by fax, campus mail or U.S. mail to the Shared Services Center.
Retirees and survivors also will receive requests by U.S. mail, with a dependent information form included. For security reasons, no dependent information will be requested online, by telephone or by reply email.
Dependent information, including whether or not a Social Security number is on file with the university, can be viewed under Dependent Summary in the Benefits section of Employee Self-Service in Wolverine Access.
Collection of dependent Social Security numbers is not part of Open Enrollment and may not be completed in Wolverine Access at this time.
Personal identifying information related to health care coverage is kept secure and confidential under HIPAA privacy regulations. Learn more at hr.umich.edu/hipaa.
