The Internal Revenue Service says its Affordable Care Act Information Returns system—also known as AIR—will be unavailable over the weekend while maintenance is carried out.

Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), insurance companies, self-insured companies, and large businesses and businesses that provide health insurance to their employees must submit information returns to the IRS reporting on individual’s health insurance coverage. Users are required to file electronically if submitting 250 or more information returns.

The IRS warns the AIR system, which is used by software developers, employers, insurance issuers or carriers, government agencies and some third parties to file information returns relating to the Affordable Care Act.

The system will be unavailable from 10 a.m. EST on Saturday, Oct. 17 until 3 p.m. EST.

During that time, users are asked not to attempt to access the Application to Application (A2A) or the User Interface (UI) Channels for the duration of the maintenance period.

The information returns affected by this maintenance outage include:

• Form 1094-B, Transmittal of Health Coverage Information Returns
• Form 1095-B, Health Coverage
• Form 1094-C, Transmittal of Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage Information Returns
• Form 1095-C, Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage

The IRS apologizes for any inconvenience the maintenance outage may cause.

Source: IRS QuickAlerts for Electronic ACA Information Returns