1095-B Recipient Requests: Plan the Response Workflow

Notice 2025-15 permits the alternative manner of furnishing section 6055 statements for calendar years after 2023. The provider must meet the notice requirements and timely furnish requested copies. This is an operational choice with continuing duties, not permission to discard statement data or stop IRS reporting.

Record the coverage year and the approved furnishing method. Retain the public notice, publication evidence and required availability period. The notice must be clear, conspicuous and accessible and include an email address, physical mailing address and telephone contact. Assign ownership for every advertised channel, including mail that reaches a general office rather than the benefits team.

Create a case using the original request date, channel, coverage year and responsible-individual reference. Keep receipt evidence such as the incoming message or mail log. Forwarding a request internally should not restart its clock. Deduplicate repeat contacts by linking them to the original case while preserving later messages.

Use an established identity-verification process before releasing health coverage information. Track verification questions promptly, but do not assume requesting additional information suspends the statutory response clock. Escalate identity or scope uncertainty early enough for the responsible team to resolve it. Avoid asking the requester to put full SSNs or family coverage details into an unsecured general inbox.

Under Notice 2025-15, a requested statement is timely furnished no later than the later of January 31 following the coverage year or 30 days after the request. Store both candidate dates and the selected later date. Use calendar days for the stated 30-day interval, not a business-day assumption.

Set an earlier internal response target to leave room for identity checks, retrieval and mailing. For a fictional request for a 2025 statement received April 6, 2026, 30 days later is May 6, 2026, which is later than January 31, 2026. The team might target April 16 internally. That earlier target is a service commitment, not a different IRS deadline.

The fictional case below shows how the provider can move a request through different teams without losing its original date. The intervals are internal targets; the actual legal deadline remains the separately calculated later-of date.

When a stage slips, identify the exact blocker and escalate it. A case should not sit in a shared queue labeled in progress while no one owns the next action.

Retrieve the statement for the requested coverage year and responsible individual. Confirm that covered-person information belongs to that statement and that any processed correction is reflected appropriately. A request for an old-year copy is not a reason to substitute the newest year's form.

The B-series instructions describe affirmative consent specific to electronic 1095-B furnishing and the applicable exceptions. Record the actual authorized destination and method. Sending instructions for finding a form is not necessarily the same as furnishing an accessible copy under the requirements. If the requester identifies a coverage error, open a linked correction case while preserving the request and response record.

Keep a queue sorted by the actual response deadline, with a second flag for missed internal targets. Review cases waiting on another department and those with repeated failed delivery. Assign backup staff before absences so the published notice's email and mailing channels remain serviced.

Close a request with the exact statement version, actual furnishing date, method and evidence reference. Preserve unsuccessful attempts and any follow-up; do not replace the received date with the completion date. Continue maintaining the notice for its required period even when the queue is empty. At cycle end, use request volumes and bottlenecks to plan staffing, while retaining records under applicable reporting and privacy requirements.

Include requests received by a receptionist or general customer-service team in the same register. Train those teams to preserve the original message and route it promptly. A request should not disappear from the timing controls because it arrived outside the preferred email address.