Health insurance and your taxes (2024)

FAQs

How does health insurance affect your federal income taxes? ›

2022 health coverage & your federal taxes

You'll use IRS Form 8962 to do this. If you used more premium tax credit than you qualify for, you'll pay the difference with your federal taxes. If you used less, you'll get the difference as a credit.

The IRS requires this information to determine if a repayment of the credit is required OR give an additional Premium Tax Credit if you were eligible for more of a credit. In an effort to better serve you, and report all required information to the IRS, we have included this question within the return.

Health care coverage documents

You are not required to send the IRS information forms or other proof of health care coverage when filing your tax return. However, it's a good idea to keep these records on hand. This documentation includes: Form 1095 information forms.

Health insurance premiums are deductible if you itemize your tax return. Whether you can deduct health insurance premiums from your tax return also depends on when and how you pay your premiums: If you pay for health insurance before taxes are taken out of your check, you can't deduct your health insurance premiums.

Normally, you should only claim the medical expenses deduction if your itemized deductions are greater than your Standard Deduction (TurboTax can also do this calculation for you). If you elect to itemize, you must use IRS Form 1040 to file your taxes and attach Schedule A.

If you are a Californian with no health insurance, you may face a tax penalty when you file. Though there is no uninsured tax penalty on a federal level, individual states, like California, can still implement mandates. You may still need to pay a tax penalty if you live in California and do not have health insurance.

The penalty will be applied by the California Franchise Tax Board. For information about the penalty, including the amount your family could owe for not having coverage, visit the Franchise Tax Board's website and use their Penalty Estimator Tool. Want to get started with Covered California?

Generally, you can deduct on Schedule A (Form 1040) only the amount of your medical and dental expenses that is more than 7.5% of your AGI.

The Premium Tax Credit is a refundable tax credit designed to help eligible individuals and families with low or moderate income afford health insurance purchased through the Health Insurance Marketplace, also known as the Exchange. The size of your Premium Tax Credit is based on a sliding scale.

The purpose of Form 1095-A is to reconcile any advance premium tax credits you received during the year with the amount of credits you were eligible to receive. If you fail to file a tax return reconciling those payments, you will not be eligible for premium tax subsidies in the next year.

Do health insurance companies report to IRS? ›

Health coverage providers are also required to file annual reports with the IRS and may provide a statement to individuals with information about those who had minimum essential coverage for at least one day during the preceding calendar year, using IRS Form 1095-B.

Obamacare and the premium tax credit

It makes health insurance premiums for coverage purchased through the Health Insurance Marketplace more affordable for eligible individuals. The premium tax credit is the main way that having Obamacare impacts your taxes.

Whether you get financial help or not, health coverage is part of filing your taxes. Unless you report that you had health coverage, you may have to pay a state tax penalty. If you received federal or state financial help, you'll report that as well.

The premium tax credit – also known as PTC – is a refundable credit that helps eligible individuals and families cover the premiums for their health insurance purchased through the Health Insurance Marketplace.

Employer-paid premiums for health insurance are exempt from federal income and payroll taxes. Additionally, the portion of premiums employees pay is typically excluded from taxable income.

Medical insurance premiums are deducted from your pre-tax pay.

You will use the information from the Form 1095-A to calculate the amount of your premium tax credit. You will also use this form to reconcile advance payments of the premium tax credit made on your behalf with the premium tax credit you are claiming on your tax return.

Health insurance premiums can be tax deductible when you retire, but it depends on several factors such as your age, the type of health insurance plan that you have and whether you are self-employed or not.