Free Assistance Available to Understand Health Insurance and Tax Implications of the Affordable Care Act

AUSTIN, Texas, March 13, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The Texas Association of Health Underwriters (TAHU) strongly urges individual taxpayers to consult with a professional health insurance agent in addition to their tax professional to make sure taxpayers are in compliance with the new Affordable Care Act health coverage provisions impacting 2014 tax returns. This year, for the first time, the requirement, known as the individual shared responsibility provision, stipulates that each member of a family must have a qualifying health plan and must report the health coverage status to the IRS. Qualifying health insurance includes direct purchases from insurance companies, the Health Insurance Marketplace, student health plans and catastrophic plans.

If individuals do not have qualifying insurance coverage or certain qualifying exemptions from insurance coverage, then the IRS will assess a penalty, or "shared responsibility payment," with their 2014 income tax return, due in April. It's important that individuals take action in the next weeks to avoid this penalty when they file their taxes next year. An extra open enrollment is available from March 15 to April 30^th for some individuals who haven't enrolled in coverage or who did not understand about the penalties that could be assessed. A professional health insurance agent can help explain how you can still enroll for 2015.

The penalty for not having health insurance coverage is based on a formula tied to income. In general, the annual payment amount is the greater of a percentage of your household income or a flat dollar amount. In a video posted to the IRS website, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen says, "Everybody's affected by it to the extent that everyone's required to have health insurance for themselves and their dependents." U.S. Treasury projections indicate that between 4 and 6 million households could be subject to an uninsured tax penalty.

Tax implications range in severity by the amount of income a household earns. For example, an uninsured family of four with an income of...Click Here to Download Full Press Release.

SOURCE Texas Association of Health Underwriters