In order to develop the required month-by-month reports for your employees, ACA TRACK needs you to provide us with certain details regarding each employee, their job status, and their coverage type.

To do that, we have developed an easy-to-use Employee Data Template, where you can provide this information. On the spreadsheet, we have listed several key fields that we require.

Understanding these fields, and any special requirements, will help ensure a smooth reporting process. In the section below, you will find an explanation for each field, as well as any special requirements or guidelines that should be followed when filling them in.


Personal Information

For every employee, you need to capture basic information, such as their name, address, and Social Security number. All fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required fields.


 Employee SSN* (Social Security Number)
  •  Formatting Requirements:  SSN can be entered with or without the dashes: 123-45-6789 OR 123456789. You must include all 9 digits, even if the SSN begins with 0.

Last Name*, First Name*, Middle Initial

  • These fields should contain the employee’s full legal name.
  • Formatting Requirements:  These fields should contain text only.

Address*, Address2, City*

  • Formatting Requirements: These fields will accept any combination of numbers and letters.  There is a maximum length of 22 characters. Proper-capitalization is recommended for best results.

State*

  • Formatting Requirements:  Use the two-digit state abbreviation code ONLY. Do not spell out the state’s name.

Zip/Post Code*

  • Formatting Requirements:  Five or nine-digit format. If nine-digit, dash is required (12345-6789).

Country Code *

  • Formatting Requirements:  For US-based employees, enter “US”. Otherwise, enter the approved Country Code.


Handling Changes: With the exception of the SSN (which should never change), if any other personal information changes for an employee throughout the year, ACA TRACK will use the most recent information for reporting purposes.


Employment History

The employment history section allows us to report any changes in Job Status throughout the year.


Hire Date – This can refer to the employee’s original date of hire, rehire date, or the date an employee changed to a new division within your company.

  • Requirements: If the record is for an employee, this field is required. If the record is for a non-employee, then the field should be left blank.
  • Formatting Requirements:  mm/dd/yyyy

Term Date – For the purpose of this guide and ACA TRACK data collection, “Termed” or “Terminated” is used in cases of both voluntary and involuntary termination of employment. This field is also used to track certain job changes, such as moving to a new division within your company.

  • Requirements: If the employee is no longer with your company, this field is required.
  • Formatting Requirements:  mm/dd/yyyy
  • Special Note: The Term Date MUST be more recent than the Hire Date.

Status Begin Date* –The start date for the employee’s Job Status.

  • Formatting Requirements:  mm/dd/yyyy
  • Handling Changes: If an employee has experienced a Job Status change during the year, this will require multiple entries. The “Status Begin Date” should be adjusted for each new entry.

Job Status* – For reporting purposes, we need to know whether each person listed was: Full-time, Variable Hour (part-time), Leave, or Non-employee.[1] 

  • Formatting Requirements:  This field accepts any combination of alphanumeric characters.
  • Conversion: Because many companies already have their own internal Job Status codes, rather than requiring you to adjust your data to our format, ACA TRACK will convert your codes to the government’s standard status codes. This “mapping” process will be handled later, using the ACA TRACK software. (They must still fit the appropriate Formatting Requirements.)

Division* – For reporting purposes, Division refers to each separate tax entity within your company where individuals may be employed.

  • Formatting Requirements:  This field accepts any combination alphanumeric characters.
  • Conversion: Division codes on your spreadsheet do not need to match the division names used within the ACA TRACK software (they will be “mapped” later), but they should be consistent.


Health Insurance History

The Health Insurance History section allows us to track and report any changes to each employee’s health insurance coverage or eligibility throughout the year.



Plan ID – The lowest-cost health-care plan offered to the employee.

  • Requirements: This field is required, UNLESS the Coverage Type is Limited Non-Assessment Period (LNAP), Union Provided, or Not Eligible.
  • Formatting Requirements: This field accepts any combination of alphanumeric characters.
  • Special Note: If the employee was offered and / or covered by more than one plan during the year, this entry must correspond with the line’s Coverage Begin and Coverage End Dates.

Coverage Begin Date* – The start date for the coverage specified in the current record.

  • Formatting Requirements:  mm/dd/yyyy
  • Note: If the coverage began in a prior year, you may enter 1/1/20xx (current reporting year).

Coverage End Date – The date a specific coverage ended.

  • Requirements: If the employee’s coverage changed during the year, a Coverage End Date is required for all previous coverage types.
  • Formatting Requirements:  mm/dd/yyyy
  • Special Note: The date listed in this field MUST be more recent than the date listed in the corresponding “Coverage Begin Date” field.

Coverage Type* – The type of health insurance coverage (or non-coverage) provided during the specified time period. The following values represent the types of coverage that must be reported:

  •  Insured: Employee was eligible for company health insurance and elected coverage.
  •  Waived: Employee was eligible for health insurance, but waived coverage.
  •  Not Eligible: Employee was not eligible for health insurance. (Example: They are not full-time.)
  • COBRA Not Employed: A non-employee (either termed employee or covered dependent) elects COBRA coverage. This is only reported on self-insured plans.
  • COBRA Reduction in Hours: After experiencing a reduction in hours (ex. moving from full-time to variable hour), employee was offered and elected COBRA coverage.
  • COBRA Waived: Employee was offered COBRA coverage because they moved from full-time to part-time (reduction in hours), and waived COBRA coverage. Cobra Waived SHOULD NOT be used for termed employees.
  •  Union Provided: Health insurance benefits were provided by an employer-sponsored union. 
  •  LNAP: Limited Non-Assessment Period. Most often used for employees in a waiting period.
  •  Eligible No Offer Given: Employee was eligible for coverage, but it was never offered to them.

Unaffordable Coverage Offered – For 2018, if the employee’s contribution exceeds 9.56% of the employee’s income, it is the employer’s responsibility to report unaffordable coverage.


Note: Your values DO NOT have to match these, provided they meet the appropriate Formatting Requirements. You will map your own terms in ACA TRACK later.

[1] Non-employee – This refers to individuals not employed by your company at any point during the calendar year but who is the primary insured subscriber: spouses, severance recipients (terminated in previous year), retirees, and COBRA primary dependents. Non-employee should NEVER refer be used for someone who was employed at any point in the year.