Your taxes may be affected by your health coverage through marketplace insurance under the Affordable Care Act/Obamacare. You will require some new information when you file your federal income taxes if anyone of household members is enrolled in a health plan under Obamacare. You can apply for an exemption if you didn’t have coverage for three or more months in 2014. Otherwise, you may need to pay a fee for not having coverage. To learn more, visit the healthcare website.
Form 1095-A for filing your federal taxes
You’ll get form 1095-A in the mail from the marketplace if you enroll in a health plan through the marketplace. You will not get this form without health coverage through marketplace insurance, Medicaid, or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Information regarding any of your household members enrolled in a health plan through the marketplace is included in form 1095-A. It also includes information about the following things:
- The monthly premiums paid for the health plan.
- A premium used to compute your premium tax credit also known as a “benchmark” premium.
- The payments that help you to lower your monthly premium payments.
Your final premium tax credit and federal income tax return
You provided information about your income and family size when you applied for health coverage through the marketplace. This information determines the amount of premium tax credit you are eligible for. You can use “advance payments” of this premium tax credit to lower your monthly premium costs. When you file your federal income tax return, you compute the actual amount of your premium tax credit.
You can figure out this amount by consulting your tax preparer or completing and attaching Form 8962, the premium tax credit form, to your tax return. If the actual premium tax credit you qualify for exceeds the amount you used throughout the year, you will receive the difference as credit on your tax return.
You must pay the difference with your tax return if your credit amount is less than the advance payments you used. When you file your taxes, you might still qualify for a premium tax credit if you didn’t receive help to lower the amount you paid for your health plan premiums during 2014. Use Form 8962 to compute the amount to report on your tax return and determine if you qualify for a premium tax credit.
Form 8965 and health coverage
Use Form 8965 if you didn’t have health coverage for part of 2014. If you were uninsured earlier in 2014 and your Marketplace coverage started in the middle of the year, you must fill out Form 8965 from the IRS when filing taxes. This form shows whether you are exempt or need to pay a fee for the months you didn’t have coverage under the Affordable Care Act/Obamacare.
Visit the healthcare website to learn more about how your marketplace insurance coverage affects your taxes.
