Obamacare Penalty

[birch2013 4]

Hi Folks,

I have a wife who has been in the AOS status for most of this year. I hope she will get her green card around the end of the year.

We looked at health insurance and after running the numbers, decided not to get health insurance for her this year. We just pay cash for whatever health care she needs right now.

Does anyone know if we will be hit with the Obamacare penalty when we file our 2015 taxes?

Healthcare.gov says she is eligible to use the Marketplace for coverage, but doesn't say if the penalty would apply also.

https://www.healthcare.gov/immigrants/immigration-status/

Edited October 29, 2015 by birch2013

[yuna628 9,547]

By law if you don't have health insurance, the penalty will apply. You can speak to the marketplace to find out the details further.

[belinda63 2,984]

When you file taxes you will have to provide proof that she had coverage or you will be penalized.

[MariaR323 199]

Hi Folks,

I have a wife who has been in the AOS status for most of this year. I hope she will get her green card around the end of the year.

We looked at health insurance and after running the numbers, decided not to get health insurance for her this year. We just pay cash for whatever health care she needs right now.

Does anyone know if we will be hit with the Obamacare penalty when we file our 2015 taxes?

Healthcare.gov says she is eligible to use the Marketplace for coverage, but doesn't say if the penalty would apply also.

https://www.healthcare.gov/immigrants/immigration-status/

Generally speaking, if you are supposed to have coverage and you don't, then a penalty would apply. However, I don't know the particulars to your situation and with that said you may or may not have a penalty and if you have a penalty you may or may not qualify for an exemption.

The general answer is yes, a penalty would apply if there is no coverage but without a lot of other details for your unique, personal situation we can't know for sure.

If you'd like to provide me with more details, I can give you a more specific answer. Send me a private message if you'd like and we can go from there.

P.S. Yes, I'm a licensed & registered tax preparer in my home state of California.

[birch2013 4]

Thanks for the replies! I figured as much but was hoping I was wrong.

Thanks Obama!

[DaveNot 55]

I'd you don't have it the penalty applies. However, if you cannot get healthcare or have to pay out of pocket, usually you're given an exemption code. see if you have one.

[DaveNot 55]

Also, the option of filing taxes jointly vs on your own affect the amount of premiums you may receive. The "have you lived in the USA since 1996" means that you entered after that date to the current date, unless you entered before. the question doesn't mean "have you lived here since 1996". if you links I'll post them. But they are on my comp.

[birch2013 4]

Thank you all very much for the replies and all the information. Thank you for pointing me toward the exemptions and I just went through every single one of them.

Unfortunately, there's no exemptions that apply to us. We are part of the struggling middle class, if you know what I mean.

We could have afforded to get her health insurance, we just rationally examined the insurance offered and determined that it was a bad financial decision to purchase them.

And so far, we have been right about that. Even after we pay the fine, we will still have been right. That's how bad the insurance options were.

But thank you all very much for trying to help us.

[DaveNot 55]

I'm in exactly the same position and have edited my application several times and the latest is that I'm denied premiums. Two months ago I went too an official coordinator for free and she did something so I got the premiums applied which worked out. I'm currently trying to set an appointment, so I'll let you know what happens.The webpage seems odd and not all questions are as they seem and she explained to me that there are errors... So, I'm going back as I now have the same issue of no premiums applied.

[Pennycat 880]

How does this apply to a K1 who won't be married until the last week of 2015?

[DaveNot 55]

How does this apply to a K1 who won't be married until the last week of 2015?

It applies as a life changing circumstance. I think once married and you apply for AOS you're entitled to use the marketplace. Otherwise, I don't think you can. I could be wrong...

[MariaR323 199]

How does this apply to a K1 who won't be married until the last week of 2015?

Hi Catherine,

For ACA (Obamacare) requirements and penalty and if I understand the K-1 process... at POE the K-1 visa is void and your fiance is legally here on a temporary status with a 90 day window. During this 90 day window your spouse would not have a "requirement" to carry medical insurance; he hasn't proven yet the "intention" to remain in the U.S. so he has no "requirement" but may still be eligible to apply under ACA for a short-term coverage plan. Once you marry and file for AOS, the intent to stay in the U.S. has been created, he continues to be legally and "lawfully present" and he would now be required to have health coverage to avoid a penalty.

So if I understand your specific timeline and you won't marry until the last week of 2015 then I don't see how any penalty for tax year 2015 would apply to your future spouse in this particular situation.

It applies as a life changing circumstance. I think once married and you apply for AOS you're entitled to use the marketplace. Otherwise, I don't think you can. I could be wrong...

Once the marriage takes place it is indeed considered a life changing event and eligible to be added to an employer-sponsered plan as well as apply through the marketplace.

For ACA purposes though in relation to Immigration, a nonimmigrant considered "lawfully present" and having not violated the terms of their status under which he or she was admitted CAN apply for marketplace coverage options. So technically, they don't have to be married just yet (as in the example above with Catherine.)

[R_n_B 4]

I hope you don't mind me piggybacking on your thread but I have a similar question. I'm going to get married on the 27th, fiancee is here on k-1; her son, 5 years old, is here on k-2. We applied and received her social security number. He currently does not have a social (we plan to wait until we do the AOS). I plan to add my fiancee to my health insurance plan from work as soon as we get married. Will the penalty apply for 2015 with respect to her son if we don't get him health insurance after we get married?

[MariaR323 199]

I hope you don't mind me piggybacking on your thread but I have a similar question. I'm going to get married on the 27th, fiancee is here on k-1; her son, 5 years old, is here on k-2. We applied and received her social security number. He currently does not have a social (we plan to wait until we do the AOS). I plan to add my fiancee to my health insurance plan from work as soon as we get married. Will the penalty apply for 2015 with respect to her son if we don't get him health insurance after we get married?

If you are only going to add your (future) spouse and not your (future) step-child... sounds like yes, a penalty might apply because I can't think of any exemption right now that you could use.

[birch2013 4]

Hi R_n_B,

According to the information that I found, you will be hit with the penalty for her son. But, the insurance requirement (and the penalty) do not start to apply to either of them until you file for the adjustment of status. So if you file for AOS in December, my guess is that you should pay the penalty just for one month of 2015, December.

Since a K-1 visa is technically a non-immigrant visa, she and her son are just visiting, almost like tourists, and so the Obamacare requirements do not apply to them during the K-1 timeframe. Once you file their AOS paperwork, they are no longer here on a non-immigrant visa. They are now legally here in a special status, in transition to becoming permanent residents, and the requirements of Obamacare start to apply to them as soon as they begin the transition to permanent residents.

This is according to what I read...

I may be wrong on this though, Obamacare is so bad, that it's hard to get simple answers to simple questions about it.