The Los Angeles Times (1/10, Terhune) reported that the first tax season involving the Affordable Care Act may hold “several surprises” for millions of Americans. Most taxpayers who received health coverage through their employer will see few changes. But for those who purchased a private plan on the exchanges or went without insurance, filing may be more complicated. Experts “project that 40% to 50% of families that qualified for financial assistance might have to repay some portion because their actual household income for 2014 was higher than what they estimated during enrollment.” Those who were uninsured in 2014 face a penalty of $95 per adult or 1 percent of adjusted gross income, whichever is greater.
The AP (1/14, Feldman) reports that 2014 was a quiet year in terms of tax changes, but the “biggest change for tax filers this year concerns the Affordable Care Act and the requirement that everybody have health insurance.” If you have insurance from an employer or a private marketplace “you simply check a box on line 61 of Form 1040 affirming that you had full coverage.” However, those that purchased subsidized insurance through an exchange or went without coverage in 2014 will face a number of new requirements and forms to complete.
Kaiser Health News (1/14) adds that those who were uninsured in 2014 will “have to file Form 8965, which allows you to claim an exemption from the requirement to have insurance or calculate your penalty for the months that you weren’t covered.” Those who bought a marketplace plan will receive a new 1095-A form “that spells out how much your insurer received in advance premium tax credits.” That information will be used “to reconcile how much you received against the amount you should have received.”
