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ACA Penalty Calculation

I am single and worked two different jobs.(job 1 from January thru June) (job 2 July thru December) Neither job offered health insurance. I didn't have health insurance all year. My monthly income from job 1 was below the poverty federal poverty level but my income from job 2 was substantially higher and would have not qualify for the exemption from the ACA penalty. My total income in 2014 totaled $35K.

How is the penalty calculated. How is the "no affordable health insurance options" exemption applied when my total income for the year was $35K but the 1st six months it was very low (below the poverty level)

Is each months income multiplied by 12 to determine the projected annual income and is that the figure used to determine if that month is eligible for the "no affordable health insurance options" exemption.

Reply to
Walt
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You would be entitled to an exemption for the first 6 months as minimum essential health insurance would have been unaffordable. Your penalty would be the higher of a flat amount of $95 or 1% of your household income after subtracting your filing threshold. There are worksheets on pages 5 and 6 of the instructions for form 8965 that you use to compute the penalty. The 8965 is the form you fill out where you identify the months you claim the exemption and the IRS code for that exemption. In your case you would claim an exemption for the first 6 months using Code A.

If you had no exemption, your penalty would be $249 as it is HIGHER than the flat amount of $95. It is figured taking your household income (AGI plus tax-exempt income plus any foreign earned income exclusion), subtracting your filing threshold and using the 1%. E.g., $35000 - $10150 = $24850 x 1% = $249 after rounding.

When you use the worksheets, because you had an exemption for the first

6 months, you will discover that the penalty "effectively" gets figured using only half the income. The end result would be a penalty of $125 if you start out with $35000 of household income.

Also note that any penalty is always capped at the national average cost of a bronze plan. That amount is $204 per month for 2014. Lastly, for 2015, if you fail to have health insurance, the 1% goes to

2% and the flat amount per adult goes from $95 to $325.
Reply to
Alan

I would hope that the IRS would look at the penalty calculation on a monthly basis because it was unaffordable to me for the first six months. However, this is how Turbo Tax explains the calculating of the exemption.

"If the minimum amount you would've paid toward the premiums on the lowest-cost coverage available through the Health Insurance Marketplace would have cost you more than 8% of your household income, then the coverage is not affordable to you" Is there a IRS document that states that the affordability exemption calculation is based on monthly income x 12 (prorated to yearly) and not solely on yearly household income. If there is such a document, how would the IRS know that my income was very low the first 6 months of the year. A monthly calculation would be fair but would not the IRS see this as a huge loophole that allows people to "game the system"

Reply to
Walt

See my reply and look at the worksheets.

Reply to
Alan

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