1095-B Coverage Data Dictionary for Reporting Teams

Confirm the reporting provider, coverage arrangement, calendar year and applicable form family. The 2025 B-series instructions distinguish insured coverage, self-insured sponsor reporting and situations generally reported on another form. A file layout cannot resolve that classification by itself.

Record the reviewed determination and the person responsible for it in the dictionary's cover sheet. Then define whether each source row represents a statement recipient, a covered person or an enrollment event. A single subscriber row may not contain every person needed for the statement.

Keep internal record keys separate from legal identifiers and from later electronic filing identifiers. The dictionary should tell a reviewer how those keys connect without pretending that an internal member number can replace a required reporting identity field.

These are internal concept names, not mandated import columns or IRS XML elements. Add source system, source field, transformation, format, blank behavior and reviewer to each working entry.

The 2025 instructions state that a responsible individual's SSN or other TIN is not required when that individual is not among the covered people in Part IV. Covered-person identity fields have their own rules, including the conditional use of date of birth when an SSN or other TIN is not entered. Preserve those distinctions in the dictionary.

Part II also has a specific scope. For example, an employer reporting self-insured group health plan coverage using the applicable code B does not complete Part II merely because the coverage is employer-sponsored. Record why a section is applicable, not applicable or awaiting review.

Do not use zeros, repeated family identifiers or invented dates to make a template appear complete. A required fact that is unavailable belongs in an exception queue, while a legitimately unrequired field needs a documented treatment. The two states should not share an unexplained blank.

Specify whether an end date means the last covered day or the first uncovered day. Preserve that source-system convention before deriving month indicators. An event entry date, file extraction date and coverage effective date can all differ.

Under the 2025 Part IV instructions, report applicable months with at least one day of coverage, using the all-year indicator when the person has coverage in all twelve months. Derive the result from confirmed coverage periods, including reviewed retroactive changes, rather than from the current enrollment status alone.

Choose and document an internal date format, such as year-month-day, then map it to the receiving system's agreed format. Paper instructions and electronic schema formats are distinct. Keep the raw source value available so an ambiguous date conversion can be investigated.

Fictional example: record group G-17 has responsible-individual alias R-1, who is not covered by this source. Covered person P-1 has confirmed coverage for all of 2025. Covered person P-2 has confirmed coverage from April 16 through September 2.

The dictionary preserves three identity roles: one statement recipient and two covered people. P-1 maps to twelve months, while P-2 maps to April through September, six months. The working comparison contains 12 + 6 = 18 covered person-months, while the statement group contains two covered individuals.

A flat export that copies R-1 into the covered-person list or repeats P-1's all-year pattern for P-2 would change the reporting facts. The reviewer checks the relationship map and separate intervals before approving the derived statement data.

Save the accepted dictionary version with a sample source export, expected output and exception decisions. When a provider or administrator changes a source field, review the business meaning as well as the column name. A field still named EndDate can change meaning after a system conversion.

Use the covered-person reconciliation to verify population membership and the monthly review worksheet to check date transformations. Keep their outputs associated with the same source version.

Hand preparers a concise definition of unresolved fields and the people who can resolve them. A successful import does not establish that a coverage category, recipient relationship or date is correct. The dictionary is useful when a new reviewer can trace a reported value back to an identified source and decision.