Your 2015 tax documents will include a 1095 form (A, B, and/or C) detailing your health coverage for the year. Form 1095-B is used to report health care coverage for those who received minimal essential coverage and no shared responsibility payment for one or more months of the reporting year. Form 1095-C is for those who are full-time employees for one or more months of the reporting year of and applicable large employer (ALE) and receive health care coverage accordingly. However, Form 1095-A: Health Insurance Marketplace Statement is perhaps the most newly recognized document, as it involves health care coverage obtained from the Health Insurance Marketplace. This may be your first year receiving this form, and the following are steps on how to use it.
If you, your spouse, and/or a dependent enrolled in health coverage for 2015 via the Health Insurance Marketplace (the “Marketplace”), then Form 1095-A will be mailed to you. Multiple forms may arrive in the event that, at any time throughout the reporting year, your family information was updated, you switched plans, you or your family was enrolled in different states or with different plans altogether. Do not expect this form at all if you did not obtain your health coverage from the Marketplace. If your coverage was obtained through the Marketplace, do not file your 2015 tax return until you receive it, as the form contains pertinent information that could affect your refund.
Form 1095-A includes a breakdown of your coverage obtained from the Marketplace, as well as the dates of coverage and the names of all covered individuals. This information will be used for Form 8962, which is the Premium Tax Credit (“PTC”) document, determining your eligibility for the PTC. Should you receive PTC advance payments (which is noted on lines 21-33 of Form 1095-A), you must file a tax return. Include Form 8962 with this filing. You do not have to include Form 1095-A with your tax return submission. For the individual shared responsibility provision, you can simply mark the full-year coverage box on your tax return, provided that Part II of Form 1095-A details that coverage for you and your family the entire reporting year. If Form 1095-A includes information of gaps in coverage for the reporting year, you must then determine if you are eligible for an exemption for those gaps or make an individual shared responsibility payment.
If you do not receive Form 1095-A within a reasonable amount of time prior to filing your tax return, you must contact the Health Insurance Marketplace. Here is the contact information, state-by-state: https://www.irs.gov/Affordable-Care-Act/Individuals-and-Families/The-Health-Insurance-Marketplace.
To locate your Form 1095-A online, visit https://www.healthcare.gov/marketplace/global/en_US/registration.