Mia77

My research indicates that if parents with no income file taxes separately, there are not considered a dependent. They are not considered a part of the sponsor's "tax household" even if they are part of the "physical household" i.e. live at the same address as the sponsor. Mia77 disagrees with this. My parents have applied and been approved for insurance coverage with premium tax credits. Has Mia77, or anyone else for that matter, applied and been turned down based on the "dependent" clause? We have both made our points, you can do your own research and come to your own conclusions.

Healthcare.gov reviewed my parents' immigration status, tax records etc. and determined that they were eligible for premium tax credits. We provided all the information they asked for (copies of green cards, SSN for looking up tax and other government records) We did NOT withhold any information, we did NOT commit fraud. We went through a certified healthcare navigator, even he confirmed that there was a lot of misinformation out there, and that LPRs are indeed eligible for tax credits.

Dear Missads,

I very appreciate that you are trying to share you knowledge with community.

I am very sorry to deliver bad news to you.

This your statement is unfortunately not true: "My research indicates that if parents with no income file taxes separately, there are not considered a dependent".

The parent considered by IRS as your dependent - if you pay more then 50% of their expences and their income less then $4000 this year. It doesn't matter do they live with you or not, do you claim them as dependent on your tax return or not, do they file their taxes or not. This information is from certified tax adviser.

It looks like your parents made a mistake filing taxes for 2014. It looks like they claimed personal exemptions. If they qualify as your dependents they had not to do this. When they don't do this - it indicates to IRS that they are the dependent of somebody and this disqualifies them from premium tax credit.

You are are writing that "Healthcare.gov reviewed my parents' immigration status, tax records etc.". Their decision was based on your parents not correct tax return for 2014.

If IRS will do audit of their tax return - they will be in trouble unless they will be able to prove that they paid more then 50% of their expences.

Hope this clarify the issue.

So missad's advice of "Also remember NOT to claim them as dependents on your tax return (if they are not likely to work/have income in the US) The resulting tax credits for the premium will be well worth it."

is credible or fraud?

This statement: "Also remember NOT to claim them as dependents on your tax return (if they are not likely to work/have income in the US) The resulting tax credits for the premium will be well worth it." - is false.

As soon as your parent qualified to be your dependent by IRS (you pay more then 50% of his/her expenseses and his/her income less then $4000, see IRS publication for more information on this) your parent is not eligible for premium tax credit (not depending on do you claim his/her as dependent on your tax return).

Also remember NOT to claim them as dependents on your tax return (if they are not likely to work/have income in the US) The resulting tax credits for the premium will be well worth it.

I used tax adviser help when was doing tax returns for me and my parents this year.

The sad news are that if parents qualify as dependants by IRS then

1. They can't claim personal exemptions for themselves on their tax return.

2. They don't qualify for premium tax credit.

and It doesn't matter if somebody claims them as dependant on his/her tax return (or decide not to claim for some reason).

Where exactly does it state that if you CAN be claimed as a dependent you MUST file as a dependent?

With all due respect, it doesn't matter what you "think". The only thing that matters is the law.

To summarize, in order to claim the tax credit for parents with no income:

- Beneficiaries (parents) should NEVER have been claimed as dependents on their sponsor's (child's) US tax returns (this is REALLY important)

- Beneficiaries should file their own tax returns as married filing jointly (if married) In this case, it would be 0 income, 0 taxes on the forms.

- Fill out the health subsidy reconciliation form the following year. Again 0 income means 0 taxes.

I wish people would stop fear mongering and just stick to the facts.

Dear Missads,

This is just a discussion in the attempt to find the truth. I would appreciate if you could change the form of your answers to be more polite.

This sentence:

claimed or not"

is in this IRS publication (and many others places) on page 41 at the top:

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p4012.pdf

LPR parents with no income ARE eligible for tax credits. Period.

I think it depends on can you claim them as dependents or not. If you can - they can't get tax credit.

https://www.irs.gov/...mium-Tax-Credit

You can't get tax credit if someone can claim you as a dependent.

claimed or not.

(See https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p4012.pdf)

Hi missads,

That's great that your parent have got medical insurance. However, I am not sure that they can get tax subsidy on that ground that they don't have income. If you sponsored your parent's green cards, then you made commitment to USCIS that you are paying their expenses and so their subsidy has to be calculated using your income. I don't think that insurance brokers know immigration staff so they didn't warn you about this. My opinion is that you have to buy medical coverage for them and claim them as dependents on your tax return and also you can deduct their medical expenses on your tax return.

At the risk of repeating other posts, I just wanted to share my experience of being able to find affordable health insurance for my parents. Here are some details:

Parents - over 65, here on Green Card (permanent residents)

Living in the US for less than 5 years (about 2 years)

Eligible for tax subsidy through Obamacare (this does NOT constitute a public charge)

Residents of State of Michigan, have social security numbers

Eligible for Silver level insurance plans

Filed their $0 federal/state taxes jointly, separate from mine (I do NOT claim them as dependents on my tax return - this is important)

I had searched the healthcare.gov website last year for insurance for them and came up empty handed. We purchased "travelers insurance" online (***removed***) but got shafted. My parent had a major health incident and they didn't cover anything (all claims were denied as pre-existing condition) Stay away from these types of insurance.

I tried healthcare.gov again this year and couldn't find anything again. Many seem to assume, wrongly, that everyone over 65 is eligible for Medicare by default. This isn't true for immigrants, they need to have lived in the US for at least 5 years before they can participate in Medicare.

Anyway, the short story is healthcare.gov has still not caught on to this. If you want to purchase health insurance, you will need to work with a healthcare navigator. There are several public service organizations that have these navigators who will help you for free. They will help you do the application over the phone, and then it works just fine. I am in Michigan and went through Jewish Family Service. Have your parents green cards and SSN handy, that is all they need.

There appears to be a widely held misconception that immigrant seniors over 65 are not covered by Obamacare. This is absolutely NOT true. You don't have to wait for 5 years for Medicare to kick in. Recent immigrants older than 65 can purchase health insurance via healthcare.gov, just like any other US citizen or legal permanent resident. Some state exchanges might not know it, the person you talk to on the phone might not know it, the healthcare.gov website certainly doesn't appear to understand this special situation, but trust me parents on green cards who have been in the US less than 5 years ARE eligible for subsidized health coverage.

I was able to get health insurance for my parents who have no income, for around $100 a month per parent (after a $1000 tax subsidy, because their income is less than limit of ~$21K) Now that is REALLY affordable, and it is proper mainstream insurance (Blue Cross Michigan) None of that travelers' insurance BS.

Just trying to get the word out, because the open enrollment deadline is January 31st. If your parents arrive after Jan 31st, you can still sign up at that time, because their arrival date qualifies as a special "life event". But if they are already in the US, please sign up by Jan 31st. Otherwise they will have to wait until November for the next enrollment period to begin.

Thank you. I am going to appeal their decision but if this doesn't work I will buy traveler's insurance for them.

SSN isn't a requirement for the Maryland Health Connection site - ( bottom of this link on their own site)

http://marylandhealthconnection.gov/health-coverage-resources/enrollment-guide/

Second Chance, on 20 Oct 2014 - 10:14 PM, said:

I can't speak for Florida but my father in law was 66 and covered last year. In Colorado anyone over 65 who doesn't qualify for medicare is eligible to get a subsidized health plan on the Colorado exchange.

There's no law that people over 65 can't purchase health care, just that the plans become limited. In the past (before the ACA) there were no plans. Now there are definitely plans out there.

Healthcare.gov also confirms this is possible.

https://www.healthcare.gov/retirees/

Thank you for confirming this!

Hi all,
I just sponsored my parents for green card. I filed I-495 and I-130 concurrently. I tried to apply for health insurance for them through market place today. (on Maryland Health Connection site).
https://www.healthcare.gov/immigrants/immigration-status/ states that applicants to adjustment for permanent residency are illegible to apply. However, when I called them they said that my parents must to have social security number to apply. Without it, their software won't be able to process the application. Any thoughts on this?
They will have SSN only when they get work permit what will happen only in several month. My parents are 75 years old, I am very anxious how they can live without health insurance for so long time.