IRS still enforcing Obama-era insurance mandate

[progree]

Source: AP

Contrary to widespread perceptions, the IRS still appears to be enforcing the unpopular Obama-era requirement that most people carry health insurance or risk a fine. The agency says on its website that it will automatically reject electronic returns for tax year 2017 that don't specify if the taxpayer had health insurance. That insurance requirement, known as the individual mandate, is the top target of so-far fruitless efforts by Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Under the ACA, taxpayers are supposed to specify if they had coverage, or they were eligible for an exemption, or if they will pay the fine. But several million skip over that question and file "silent" returns.

This year the IRS continued to process such returns. However, taxpayers who skipped the health care question took a chance that they might later get a letter from the tax agency demanding answers.

Last week, the IRS released a new policy saying the health insurance question must be answered up front on tax returns. "Taxpayers remain obligated to follow the law and pay what they may owe at the point of filing," the agency said on its website. With paper returns, processing may be suspended and refunds delayed.


Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/irs-still-enforcing-obama-era-153931869.html

---

Some more background and perspective at the link.

[groundloop]

1. That's LAW isn't it? 45* can't change law with the stroke of his pen (contrary to what he believes)

[sinkingfeeling]

2. Can't bypass a law. Just ask Judge Moore who claims you must stand

for the national anthem.

[Igel]

13. No.

But what Trump did was to tell the IRS not to be overly careful in enforcing the law.

If you check that you're exempt, they're not hardly checking.

Call it "prosecutorial discretion" if you want. There's too much law-breaking for the IRS to check everything, so they're guided to enforce certain provisions. But to leave it blank is, it seems, a bridge too far. I don't like the president deciding to exempt certain categories of prosecution from enforcement, but the precedent was set and accepted so we're sort of stuck with it.

[Sunlei]

4. The law. Fine is only $200 on IRS form. I know someone who pays the fine because an uninsured adult

lives in her home and she supports him. If he needs medical care, he walks into the emergency room & the state pays for it.

[progree]

5. The fine is the greater of $695 or 2.5% of modified adjusted gross income for individuals

$1390 for a couple (or 2.5% of MAGI if greater), and $347.50 per child for the first 2 children.

https://www.irs.gov/affordable-care-act/individuals-and-families/aca-individual-shared-responsibility-provision-calculating-the-payment

[Sunlei]

6. an adult that doesn't work at all, he makes no income.

[progree]

7. Could be. I haven't heard of any $200 penalty explicitely on any IRS form

I'd appreciate knowing which form has $200 on it for my own education.

https://www.irs.gov/affordable-care-act/individuals-and-families/aca-individual-shared-responsibility-provision-calculating-the-payment

I do see this on the above link:

If you are not required to file a federal income tax return for a year because your gross income is below your return filing threshold, you are automatically exempt from the shared responsibility provision for that year and do not need to take any further action to secure an exemption. Therefore, you do not need to file a return solely to report your coverage or to claim a coverage exemption. If your income is below the filing threshold for your filing status and you choose to file a tax return, you will use Part II of Form 8965, Coverage Exemptions for Your Household Claimed on Your Return, to claim a coverage exemption. You should not make a shared responsibility payment if you are exempt from the coverage requirement because you have income below the filing threshold.

I haven't dug into Form 8965 yet....

[Sunlei]

8. a professional does her taxes for her. Shes city librarian for over 30 yrs, doesn't make much &

takes the adult off as a dependent.

I haven't seen her forms, she told me she has to pay a $200 fine for no insurance. The city won't let him onto her work insurance plan. She can't afford to retire until she can get Medicaid. It's hell to be working poor in America.

[progree]

9. Thanks for the info :-) n/t

[Igel]

12. Except it's not a fine.

Basically most people got a tax increase under the ACA; if you have insurance, you're eligible for a deduction.

It was billed as a penalty because of promises not to increase middle-class taxes. But Congress lacks authority to impose that kind of penalty, so SCOTUS had to call them out on it and say either the ACA goes or it's a tax. To preserve Congressional intent, SCOTUS opted for "tax."

[progree]

14. I had not heard that one before....

Basically most people got a tax increase under the ACA; if you have insurance, you're eligible for a deduction.

What tax increase was that? There were a couple special taxes on the top 2 brackets (3.8% Net Investment Income Tax and a 0.9% Medicare surcharge tax). But there was no general income tax increase that affected most people, as part of, or along with the ACA that I recall.

Where is the deduction for having insurance? I don't see that on my tax forms. I'd love to have another deduction.

[nitpicker]

15. Only if you itemize and have BIG medical/dental expenses

Over 10% of adjusted gross income. This includes health insurance, long term care insurance (up to IRS limits) as well as direct medical/dental expenses. The total of the excess can be claimed on Schedule A.

I almost made it one year...

[progree]

16. Oh sure, I used it in 2016 too - regular medical deductions on Sched A. That's always been there --

long before the ACA. (I thought Igel was tying some deduction for merely having health insurance to the ACA, and I know of no such deduction, or of any ACA-related general income tax increase either. But I see that I could be totally misinterpreting his comment in #12). Thanks much for the info.

[Sunlei]

3. 10 weeks to start doing our 2017 taxes. Nothings changed for 2017 insurance coverage. Rs fuckup 2018

Back to the States spending billions caring for millions of uninsured in 2018. People bankrupt with hospital bills. and $250 a tablet medicines.

Fuck you Republicans.

[progree]

10. LOL. I finished my 2016 Taxes on Friday

10 weeks to start doing our 2017 taxes

My tax guy likes to file extensions. Extensions are good until October 15 (October 16 this year because October 15 was on the weekend). He calls me with a draft for me to look at on October 9...

[Sunlei]

11. lol!! every year I wait until the 14th to do my taxes & always ready an extension form just in case.

Wish I could afford to quit working so hard & made enough $ to afford a tax guy.