Obamacare Health Care and Your Tax Return

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What tax forms do I need to submit because of Obamacare this year?

Whether you get health insurance through your employer or on your own, the health care law requires you to take some extra steps when you file your taxes for 2014, and some people will need to do some complicated calculations. Here’s what you need to know, based on the type of insurance you had in 2014.

If you had employer coverage: You’ll just need to check a box on line 61 of Form 1040 indicating that you had health insurance for the year. Your employer may send you Form 1095-C reporting information about your health coverage, although you shouldn’t worry if you don’t receive the form -- employers are not required to send the form this year. (Employers with 50 or more full-time employees will need to send the form next year.)

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If you bought your own health coverage on a state exchange: If you bought coverage through your state’s marketplace, you’ll have to check a box on line 61 of Form 1040 indicating that you had health insurance for the year. You’ll also receive Form 1095-A, “Health Insurance Marketplace Statement,” by January 31. This form includes key information about your insurance coverage, including your monthly premium, the premium for the marketplace’s second-lowest-cost silver plan (which was used to calculate the subsidy), and the amount of any subsidy you received (also called the “advance premium tax credit”).

You’ll need this information to complete Form 8962, “Premium Tax Credit.” This is where you calculate whether you qualify for an additional subsidy (if your income ended up being lower than you expected when you bought the coverage) or if you need to pay back some of the subsidy you received (if your income was higher than you expected). See Instructions for Form 8962 for more information. These calculations are complicated, especially if your coverage or family size changed during the year. Most of the state marketplaces will soon have resources and call-center specialists to help answer questions (you can find links to your state’s marketplace at www.healthcare.gov). You can also find personal help in your area.

If you bought your own health coverage off of the exchange: Off-exchange policies are not eligible for the premium tax credits, so you won’t need to fill out those forms. But you will need to check the box on line 61 of Form 1040 indicating that you had health insurance for the year. You may receive Form 1095-B from your insurance company indicating this, but most insurers are not sending these forms for 2014. Insurers will be required to send these forms for the 2015 tax-filing year.

If you didn’t have health insurance: If you didn’t have health insurance for 2014, you may be subject to a penalty. You’ll need to file Form 8965, “Health Coverage Exemptions,” to claim an exemption from the penalty. For more information, see the Instructions for Form 8965. If you don’t qualify for an exemption, you’ll fill out the worksheet here to calculate the penalty, which you’ll report on line 61 of your Form 1040.

For more information about all of the rules, see the IRS’s Affordable Care Act Tax Provisions page, especially Publication 5187, Health Care Law: What’s New for Individuals & Families, which is a great resource with information about each situation. Also see How Obamacare Complicates the Filing of Your 2014 Tax Return.

As the "Ask Kim" columnist for Kiplinger's Personal Finance, Lankford receives hundreds of personal finance questions from readers every month. She is the author of Rescue Your Financial Life (McGraw-Hill, 2003), The Insurance Maze: How You Can Save Money on Insurance -- and Still Get the Coverage You Need (Kaplan, 2006), Kiplinger's Ask Kim for Money Smart Solutions (Kaplan, 2007) and The Kiplinger/BBB Personal Finance Guide for Military Families. She is frequently featured as a financial expert on television and radio, including NBC's Today Show, CNN, CNBC and National Public Radio.