2014 Health Care Coverage Exemptions, How to Apply for One, and New Exemption Lookup Tool

Individuals who did not have health insurance coverage for all or part of 2014 will not owe an additional tax (penalty) for not having health insurance if they qualify for an exemption. In fact, most individuals who did not have health coverage will qualify for an exemption.

What follows is information on the new exemption lookup tool that was recently added to healthcare.gov, as well as a listing of the exemptions available to individuals for Tax Year 2014 and how to apply for them.

New Exemptions Lookup Tool

To help individuals (who did not have health insurance during 2014) determine what exemption they may qualify for, a new health care coverage exemption tool has been added to healthcare.gov. Once an individual answers a few questions the tool will let them know:

• What exemptions may apply to them
• Details to help them decide whether or not to apply
• Read more

Exemptions Available for 2014 and How to Apply For One

Exemptions that may be applied for when filing a 2014 federal return:

• 2014 health coverage is considered unaffordable
• Individual’s income is below the filing threshold (Form 8965, Part II)
• Individual was a U.S. Citizen living abroad
• Individual not lawfully present in the U.S.
• Read more

Exemptions that must be applied for through the Marketplace:

• Individual was a member of a recognized religious sect whose members object to insurance. See the Members of Recognized Religious Sects or Divisions Exemption Application form on healthcare.gov for more information.
• One of the following Marketplace defined hardship exemptions:
• Individual is homeless
• Individual was evicted in the past 6 months or was facing eviction of foreclosure
• Individual received a shut-off notice from utility company
• Individual recently experienced domestic violence
• Read more

Click here to read the entire CrossLink Tax Update that includes more information on 2014 health care coverage exemptions and the new healthcare.gov Exemption Lookup Tool.

IRS Update: Qualifying Exemptions from the Requirement to have Health Insurance for 2014

Individuals who do not have health insurance for at least nine months in 2014 will owe an additional tax (penalty) when they file their 2014 federal income tax return unless they qualify for an exemption.

The following scenarios may qualify an individual for an exemption:

• The amount required to pay for the lowest price coverage is more than 8% of the household income
• Individual does not have to file a tax return because their income is too low
• Individual is not lawfully present in the U.S.
• Member of federally recognized Native American tribe
• Read More

If an individual does not qualify for one of the above exemptions they may qualify for a hardship exemption. Some of the hardship exemptions an individual may qualify for are:

• Filed for bankruptcy in the last six months
• Had medical expenses that the individual could not pay in the last 24 months
• Read more

The type of exemption an individual is eligible for can determine how they obtain the exemption. Some exemptions may be obtained only through the Marketplace (Exchange), others only from the IRS, and yet others from either the Exchange or the IRS.

Click here to read the entire CrossLink Tax Update that includes further information on qualifying exemptions from the requirement to have health insurance for 2014.