It’s Open Enrollment Time…What You Need to Know About Healthcare & Taxes

As self-employed individuals, both my husband and I are responsible for obtaining our own health insurance rather than through big companies or corporations. What does this mean for us? This means it’s time to start looking at our options for health insurance for 2016 during Open Enrollment and make the most cost-effective decisions for our family so we are covered when the time comes to get treatment at a health care center! Please note that Open Enrollment is from November 1, 2015 through January 31, 2016. I recently discovered that TurboTax has easy-to-use online tools that will help us with the process.

I’m amazed at how much help there is through TurboTax when it comes to figuring out our family’s health insurance options! I can use the Subsidy Calculator Tool and see what we will pay for a penalty next year if we don’t have health insurance during 2016. I can also use the  see if we qualify for assistance with our health insurance premiums through the Federal or State Marketplace.

Similar Process as Last Year

Let’s look more at those who currently have health insurance. Did you know that for nearly 80% of taxpayers, reporting their health insurance this year again will be as easy as checking a box with TurboTax? This is the second year taxpayers will be reporting their health insurance status on tax returns, and for most, it will be another year when they will just need to check a box with TurboTax to indicate they have health insurance. If you encounter some issues with your taxes, seek the assistance of an irs tax problems attorney.

Tax Forms

We all know that when it comes to filing taxes, there can be lots of different forms when it comes time to file taxes. Not surprisingly, there will be forms regarding health insurance – specifically the 1095-A, 1095-B and 1095-C forms. Let’s take a closer look at the different forms.

The 1095-A form will be for people who purchased a health insurance plan on healthcare.gov (or their state health insurance marketplace). This form will confirm their coverage, premiums and any subsidies they received to help pay for health insurance. In TurboTax, entering 1095-A information will be as simple as entering a W-2. When prompted, taxpayers will just need to enter the information on their 1095-A into TurboTax and TurboTax will do the rest! It’s even easier to report this information with a PDF upload. Pretty cool, right??!!

Taxpayers who have insurance an employer, government program (such as Medicare or Medicaid), or other private insurance may receive a 1095-B or C form. You don’t need these forms to report insurance and file taxes – they are for your records only. According to the IRS, you don’t need to wait for these forms to file your taxes. Taxpayers will simply review the forms for accuracy and keep the 1095-B or -C forms for their records.

About TurboTax

There are a lot of things I love about TurboTax, but one thing especially is how easy they make it to do your taxes! Especially if you’ve had a life change (like we did when we got married in February). Life changes can include having a baby, getting married, getting divorced, and more. I also like that TurboTax has a variety of free tools you can use. For instance, TurboTax does not charge taxpayers any extra fees for any health care related forms. At TurboTax, they believe that American taxpayers should spend their hard-earned money on keeping their families health, not on having to pay to show they are complying with the health care law, they should be able to get treatment at any health care center whenever they need it. TurboTax makes filing taxes easy so you can avoid paying penalties for tax evasion cases. Just answer a few basic questions about your life and they do the rest!

If you are resident in the state of Georgia, be sure to check out prompt care in Augusta, GA.

Have you used TurboTax before?
What feature do you like about TurboTax when it comes to healthcare?

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.