MNsure struggling to send out 1095-A tax forms as deadline nears

March 10--About 18,000 people who had MNsure plans at any time during 2015 have yet to receive their 1095-A forms, which are necessary to verify whether someone received any federal tax subsidies for their health plans. Some or all of the forms that have gone out have been missing a necessary line, forcing people to visit MNsure.org to look up the information online before filing their taxes.

Technical bugs have made it difficult for MNsure to collect the necessary data from insurers, generate the forms and share that data with the IRS. MNsure's IT roadmap called for this issue to be fixed by the end of 2015, but it was the one item on that roadmap that didn't get done by the year-end target.

So far 62 percent of roughly 47,000 tax forms have been issued. Another batch is scheduled to be sent out in the next week, but MNsure CEO Allison O'Toole couldn't say how big that batch will be other than that it is "significant."

"I know there's a lot of disappointment," said MNsure board member Phil Norrgard. "Where's the accountability when we get to this point where we just can't do what we said we were going to do?"

MNsure leaders have said for months that they wouldn't get 1095-As mailed out by Jan. 31, when they're supposed to be sent to taxpayers. But the completion date keeps slipping -- last month, O'Toole predicted the forms would all be sent out by the end of February. On Tuesday, KSTP-TV reported a MNsure spokesperson predicting the forms would be sent out by March 15. Now that will be missed, too.

"We will not have 100 percent of the forms sent out before March 15," O'Toole told MNsure's board on Wednesday. "I want to be really forthright with all of you about that."

O'Toole said she has "confidence that consumers will have their forms before the (April 18) deadline" but stopped short of guaranteeing it.

Scott Peterson, chief information officer for the Department of Human Services, assured board members that technology staffers are working hard to solve the problem.

"The team is working extremely long days to get these out," Peterson said. "They know they're critical. They know they're important."

But that's small consolation to customers waiting on their tax forms. It's also not appeasing MNsure's critics, including lawmakers.

"These unacceptable delays could result in penalties and headaches," said Rep. Greg Davids, R-Preston, in a statement. "I will continue my efforts to prevent Minnesotans from having to pay penalties as a result of MNsure's incompetence."

Davids sent a letter to the IRS last week asking for automatic extensions for affected Minnesotans so they could avoid penalties or interest on their tax bills.

O'Toole said she couldn't offer any advice for what MNsure customers waiting for their 1095-A forms should do, but said she would address the subject next week.

MNsure had problems sending out 1095-A forms last year, too, but had sent out all but 2,000 forms by this point in 2015, while just under 18,000 forms are still outstanding now.

"The expectation will be that next year we deliver on time or ahead of time," Peterson said Wednesday.

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