Making the Connection Between Your Taxes and Marketplace Premium Tax Credits - California Health Advocates

January 12, 2015 By Karen Fletcher

Below is a notice from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) regarding taxes and Obamacare health coverage tax credits for those who purchased a plan in the Marketplace in 2014.

Consumers may need help making the connection between Marketplace premium tax credits and filing their taxes.

Many are unaware that they:

Must reconcile their tax credits or claim tax credits for the first time

May have to pay a fee if they are uninsured, or

May qualify for an exemption from the fee.

It’s important for people to know that If anyone in their household enrolled in a health plan through the Health Insurance Marketplace in 2014, they’ll get a new Form 1095-A — Health Insurance Marketplace Statement. The form will be mailed in early February for them to use to file their 2014 federal income tax return.

Remind them to keep this form with their other important tax information, like W-2 forms and other tax records. They’ll get a Form – 1095-A even if a member of their household only had Marketplace coverage for part of 2014. They won’t get this form if no one in the household is enrolled in a Marketplace Qualified Health Plan.

Visit https://www.healthcare.gov/taxes/ to learn more about how health coverage affects your 2014 federal income tax return.

About Karen Fletcher

Our blogger Karen J. Fletcher is CHA's publications consultant. She provides technical expertise, writing and research on Medicare, health disparities and other health care issues. With a Masters in Public Health from UC Berkeley, she serves in health advocacy as a trainer and consultant. See her current articles.

Do you have comments or concerns about your Medicare coverage? Issues regarding getting your needed prescriptions from your Part D plan, or a Medicare Advantage plan representative's marketing practices? Let us know at comments@cahealthadvocates.org.

We are dedicated to making Medicare's program work well for all beneficiaries. Your feedback from your own or your client's concerns and experiences with Medicare, will guide our Medicare advocacy efforts with key policy and decision-makers in both California and nationally with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and Congress.