How the Individual Mandate Will Affect Your Income Tax Return

[Bomboozle]

I just found information on how the individual mandate will be enforced. By January 31 of each year (and starting next year), insurance companies and your employer are required to give you a form (similar to a W-2) that shows all of your insurance information for the prior year -- if you were covered, if your children were covered, what type of coverage you have, etc. etc. etc. So if you changed jobs, or got laid off for a few months before finding another job, etc., you should get multiple reports from all insurance companies if you had healthcare coverage from more than one. As a taxpayer, you will need to account for any lapse in healthcare coverage on your federal tax return and if applicable, any penalty you incur will be added to your tax bill. As is the case with all information submitted on tax returns, the feds consider it to be your responsibility as a taxpayer to make sure the correct information is listed.

Bottom line? Those reports are also submitted to the IRS and Health and Human Services. And get this: HHS can also change reporting requirements to include even more information about you if they think it's necessary.

If you want to read more about this, do a Google search with "Bomboozle" and "healthcare" and you'll find my blog.

 

[lynn63]

Working under the table sounds better all the time.

 

[Bomboozle]

....and be careful about how much you'll owe if you don't have healthcare. In 2016, the penalty amount is the greater of the $695 fixed penalty amount or 2.5% of your annual income. For married couples/individuals with children, the penalty amount is per person. And the penalty is divided by 12, so if you are without coverage for months, not the entire calendar year, you will be liable for the penalty for each month you are uninsured (you get one coverage gap exemption for each calendar year for up to three months).

 

[dblack]

Working under the table sounds better all the time.

Health might move in the direction has well. More and more people are finding advantage in working "off the books". It could be 'just what the doctor ordered'.