Income Tax Service 5200 W Market St Greensboro, NC 27409 336-852-9505

Terry Hough President

Important Information about Advance Payments of the Premium Tax Credit and Your Tax Return

When you purchased coverage for 2014 through the Marketplace, you may have chosen to have the government send advance payments of the premium tax credit to your insurer to lower your monthly insurance premiums. At that time, the Marketplace estimated these credits based on information you provided about your expected household income and family size for the year.

If you chose to have advance credit payments sent to your insurer, you must file a federal income tax return, even though not otherwise required to file. You will need to reconcile these payments with the amount of premium tax credit you’re eligible for on your tax return. Receiving too much or too little in advance can affect your refund or balance due when you file.

For example, if you had certain life changes during the year and notified the Marketplace, the Marketplace should have adjusted the amount of the advance credit payments sent to your insurer accordingly. If you did not notify the Marketplace about these life changes, the advance credit payments may have been either too high or too low.

Advance credit payments that are lower than the amount of premium tax credit on your tax return will reduce your tax bill or increase your refund.

On the other hand, if your advance credit payments are more than the premium tax credit you are eligible for based on your actual income, you will need to repay the excess amount, subject to certain caps. This will result in a smaller refund or a larger bill when you file your return. The repayment amount is based on your household income and family size. If your household income is less than 400 percent of the federal poverty line, the repayment amount is limited. Taxpayers with household incomes of 400 percent or more of the federal poverty line must repay all of the excess amount. See the instructions for Form 8962 , Premium Tax Credit (PTC) for more information on the federal poverty line amounts.

Normally, taxpayers may owe certain penalties for late payments or underpayment of estimated tax. However, to help smooth the process for the first year of the Affordable Care Act, the IRS will waive these penalties for eligible taxpayers if they resulted from repayment of excess advance payments of the premium tax credit. This has no effect on the fee individuals will pay if they chose not to buy affordable health coverage.

You must complete Form 8962 to claim the premium tax credit and reconcile your advance credit payments with the premium tax credit you are eligible to claim on your return.

You should receive Form 1095-A , Health Insurance Marketplace Statement from your Marketplace by early February. This form provides information you will need when completing Form 8962 . If you have questions about the information on Form 1095-A for 2014, or about receiving Form 1095-A for 2014, you should contact your Marketplace directly.

If you have a question about the information shown on your Form 1095-A for 2014, or about receiving Form 1095-A for 2014, contact your Marketplace as shown in the table below or visit HealthCare.gov/taxes . The IRS will not be able to answers questions about the information on your Form 1095-A or about missing or lost forms.

Marketplace Contact Information for 2014 Health Coverage

Health care insurance for 2015

Each year the Health Insurance Marketplace has an open enrollment period. The open enrollment period to purchase health care insurance for 2015 runs from Nov. 15, 2014, through Feb. 15, 2015. Contact the Marketplace at HealthCare.gov to enroll.

If you enroll in insurance coverage for 2015 through the Marketplace, you should report changes in your circumstances — like changes to your household income or family size — to the Marketplace when they happen. Changes in circumstances may affect your advance payments of the premium tax credit. When you report a change in circumstances, you may become eligible for a special enrollment period, which allows you to purchase health care insurance through the Marketplace outside of the open enrollment period. Visit the Marketplace at HealthCare.gov for more information about reporting changes in circumstances and special enrollment.

Find out more about the Premium Tax Credit and other tax provisions of the Affordable Care Act at IRS.gov/ACA