Do I Get a 1095 From My Employer: Forms, Timing, and Fixes

Whether you get a Form 1095 from your employer depends on two things: how many people your employer employs, and how the health plan is funded. Large employers (50 or more full-time employees, counting full-time equivalents) send Form 1095-C. Small employers only send a form if they self-insure their plan, in which case they send Form 1095-B. And starting in 2024, employers are no longer required to automatically mail either form. Many now post a notice on the company website telling you the form is available on request, and they must deliver it within 30 days of your asking.

Which 1095 Your Employer Sends

There are three versions of Form 1095, and only two ever come from an employer.

Form 1095-C comes from Applicable Large Employers — companies with 50 or more full-time employees. It shows, month by month, whether you were offered coverage, the type of coverage offered, and the cost of the lowest-premium self-only option.¹

Form 1095-B comes from insurance companies, government programs like Medicaid or CHIP, and small employers that self-insure their health plans. It confirms that you and your dependents had qualifying health coverage during the year.²

Form 1095-A never comes from an employer. Only the Health Insurance Marketplace (HealthCare.gov or a state exchange) issues it, and only if you bought coverage through the Marketplace.³

If you work for a large employer that self-insures its plan, your enrollment information appears in Part III of your 1095-C rather than on a separate 1095-B. If the same large employer uses a fully insured plan, you receive a 1095-C from your employer and a 1095-B from the insurance carrier.⁴

Does Your Employer Have to Send You a 1095 at All

Federal law splits employers into two groups for this reporting.

Applicable Large Employers

An Applicable Large Employer (ALE) is any business that averaged at least 50 full-time employees, including full-time equivalents, during the prior calendar year. ALEs must furnish Form 1095-C to employees and file the corresponding returns with the IRS.⁵

A full-time employee is anyone averaging at least 30 hours of service per week, or 130 hours per month. Part-time workers get counted toward the 50-employee threshold through a full-time equivalent calculation: add up all monthly hours worked by part-time employees (capping each worker at 120 hours), then divide by 120. If the 12-month average of full-time employees plus full-time equivalents reaches 50, the company is an ALE for the following year.⁶

Smaller Employers

Companies with fewer than 50 full-time employees are not ALEs and generally have no obligation to send you a 1095-C. There’s one wrinkle: if a small employer self-insures its plan (meaning the company pays claims directly rather than buying a policy from a carrier), it must file Form 1095-B for everyone it covered.⁷ Small employers with fully insured plans have no 1095 filing obligation of their own; the insurance carrier handles it and sends the 1095-B directly to you.

How You Actually Get the Form Now

Before 2024, employers had to mail or hand-deliver Form 1095-B and 1095-C to every covered employee. That rule changed. Effective January 31, 2024, employers can satisfy the delivery requirement by posting a clear, conspicuous notice on the company website telling employees the form is available on request.⁸²

The notice must include an email address, a physical mailing address, and a phone number you can use to make the request. Once you ask, the employer must deliver the form within 30 days of your request or by January 31 of the following year, whichever is later.⁸

Some employers still mail the forms automatically. They’re allowed to, they’re just not required. If you haven’t received anything by early March and you want a copy, check your employer’s benefits portal for the notice or contact HR directly.

Electronic delivery is also an option, but only with your specific written consent. A general payroll consent doesn’t cover this — the consent has to relate specifically to receiving Form 1095-C or 1095-B electronically, and you can give it on paper or by email.⁸

When to Expect Your Form

The base deadline for employers to furnish Form 1095-B and 1095-C to individuals is January 31. For tax year 2025 forms, the IRS automatically extended the furnishing deadline to March 2, 2026. No further extensions are available for delivery to individuals.⁸²

Employers using the website-notice method must have the notice posted by March 2, 2026, and keep it accessible through October 15, 2026. Under that method, a form you request must arrive by the later of January 31, 2026, or 30 days after your request.²

You Don’t Have to Wait for It to File

Form 1095-B and 1095-C are for your records. You do not attach them to your federal tax return, and the IRS has confirmed that while the information can help you prepare your return, the forms themselves are not required to file.⁹¹⁰

Form 1095-A is different. If you had a Marketplace plan, wait for the 1095-A before filing, because you need its data to reconcile any advance premium tax credit on Form 8962.⁹

Keep your Form 1095 with your tax records for at least three years from the filing due date in case the IRS later questions your coverage status.¹¹

One boundary worth knowing: the federal individual mandate penalty has been $0 since tax year 2019, so most filers face no federal tax consequence for gaps in coverage.¹² A handful of states and the District of Columbia still enforce their own mandates with real penalties, and in those places your 1095 may be important for proving you had qualifying coverage on your state return.

If the Form Is Wrong

If your Form 1095-C shows incorrect dates, the wrong Social Security number, or wrong coverage information, contact your employer using the phone number listed on line 10. The employer is required to issue a corrected form.⁸

For errors on Form 1095-A, contact the Marketplace directly. Whether you need to amend your return depends on the type of error: a name or Social Security number fix usually doesn’t require amending, but corrections that change your coverage months or premium amounts can shift your tax credit calculation and may require Form 1040-X.¹³

If you already filed before receiving a corrected 1095-B or 1095-C, you generally don’t need to amend your return unless the correction changes your eligibility for a tax credit or exemption.

COBRA and Retiree Coverage

If you left your job and elected COBRA continuation coverage, an ALE former employer does not report the COBRA offer as an offer of coverage on line 14 of Form 1095-C. It enters code 1H (no offer) for those months, along with code 2A (not employed). That’s true even if you enrolled in and are actively using the COBRA coverage.¹¹

Where your actual enrollment shows up depends on the plan. If the ALE’s plan is self-insured, your COBRA enrollment appears in Part III of Form 1095-C. If the plan is fully insured, the insurance carrier reports your enrollment on Form 1095-B.⁴

Retirees follow similar rules. A retiree is not a full-time employee, so an ALE with a self-insured plan can report retiree coverage on either Part III of Form 1095-C or on a separate Form 1095-B. Retirees under fully insured plans get a 1095-B from the insurance carrier rather than from their former employer.⁴

1
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1095-C, Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage
2
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Forms 1094-B and 1095-B (2025)
3
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1095-A, Health Insurance Marketplace Statement
4
Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Instructions for Forms 1094-B and 1095-B
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 6056 – Certain Employers Required to Report on Health Insurance Coverage
6
Internal Revenue Service. Determining if an Employer Is an Applicable Large Employer
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 6055 – Reporting of Health Insurance Coverage
8
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Forms 1094-C and 1095-C (2025)
9
Internal Revenue Service. Affordable Care Act – What to Expect When Filing Your Tax Return
10
Internal Revenue Service. Questions and Answers About Health Care Information Forms for Individuals
11
Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Instructions for Forms 1094-C and 1095-C
12
Internal Revenue Service. Questions and Answers on the Individual Shared Responsibility Provision
13
Internal Revenue Service. Corrected, Incorrect or Voided Form 1095-A