Major Blow to Obamacare Mandate: IRS Won't Reject Tax Returns That Don't Answer Healt

I do taxes for about 10 people. People who would file 1040A or EZ or relatively simple 1040.

They're mostly older or young with kids and I can't see paying $200 to fill out and file a 1040A.

I do make them pay, though. I make them sit with me as I do their return and I explain each entry. It's the cost of "free."

 

Ok It makes no sense!

So we're right back to my point "So what did you just prove? Obarry care is unaffordable!"

 

Dude you have NO business doing tax returns for yourself, much less other people. I can't believe your incompetence.

You can buffalo some of these people here because they don't understand, but the buck stops here. What's baffling is how you can screw this up so badly. Wow!!

If you had an ounce of intuitive reasoning, you understand how wrong you are.

From the IRS site:

Individual Shared Responsibility Provision – Reporting and Calculating the Payment

2016 Percentage amount 2.5% of income above filing threshold*
2016 Flat Amount
.$695 per adult
$347.50 per child
Family maximum: $2,080



STRAIGHT FROM THE IRS WEBSITE, an example. (lmao)

Example 1: Single individual with $40,000 income
Jim, an unmarried individual with no dependents, does not have minimum essential coverage for any month during 2016 and does not qualify for an exemption. For 2016, Jim’s household income is $40,000 and his filing threshold is $10,350.
To determine his payment using the income formula, subtract $10,350 (filing threshold) from $40,000 (2016 household income). The result is $29,650. Two and a half percent of $29,650 equals $741.25.
Jim’s flat dollar amount is $695.
Jim’s annual national average premium for bronze level coverage for 2016 is $2,676. Because $741.25 is greater than $695 and is less than $2,676 Jim’s shared responsibility payment for 2016 is $741.25, or $61.77 for each month he does not have coverage (1/12 of $741.25 equals $61.77).
Jim will make his shared responsibility payment for the months he did not have coverage when he files his 2016 income tax return.

https://www.irs.gov/affordable-care...provision-calculating-the-payment#Calculating the Payment

 

You arguing over this, not me. I'm just trying to get you to admit that your comment "They didn't know because republicans lied and said you'd go to jail if you didn't have insurance" is, in itself, a lie!
As far as I know you can still go to prison if you do not pay your taxes (albeit a highly dubious and politicized tax).

Is this how you entertain yourself, spreading disinformation around?

 

Also from that source:

The move has already raised questions about its legality. Federal law gives the administration broad authority to provide exemptions from the mandate. But "it does not allow the administration not to enforce the mandate, which it appears they may be doing here," says Michael Cannon, health policy director at the libertarian Cato Institute. "Unless the Trump administration maintains the mandate is unconstitutional, the Constitution requires them to enforce it."

"The mandate can only be weakened by Congress," says Ellis. "This is a change to how the IRS is choosing to enforce it. They will count on voluntary disclosure of non-coverage rather than asking themselves."

The IRS notes that taxpayers are still required to pay the mandate penalty, if applicable. "Legislative provisions of the ACA law are still in force until changed by the Congress, and taxpayers remain required to follow the law and pay what they may owe‎," the agency statement said.

Ellis says the new policy doesn't fully rise to the level of declining to enforce the law. "If the IRS turns a blind eye to people's status, that isn't quite not enforcing it," he says. "It's more like the IRS wanting to maintain plausible deniability."

 

The Obama decided to not enforce federal drug laws - criminal laws - with regard to marijuana in states that legalized marijuana.
No one on the left questioned the legality of this decision to not enforce federal law or aged the constitution required him to do so - and, i fact, Eric Holder publicly defended the discretion to enforce the law held by the President.

So much for that.

 

Just don't be surprised when the IRS comes after you for failing to provide the info, eh.

 

Tax returns by their nature are voluntary, the information you provide is self reporting other than checks against w-2s and 1099s. If they find discrepancies there they can assess a additional taxes, penalties, an audit, or all of the aforementioned. Trump gutted compliance by taking out the obligatory question by allowing a return to be processed without the question being answered. So, yes, the mandate is still there but without an audit, there is no way for them to know. Actually, people CAN lie and say they have coverage and they really don't know unless you are audited. Trump just took the lying out of the process.

 

Is it worth the risk?

 

I'm not sure. If you lie you commit fraud. However, I believe Republicans made the mandate a paper tiger by codifying into the Act that the IRS can not take or seize assets for non compliance. So it really would depend on how much the IRS wants to pursue tax fraud on the issue. I'm guessing not. If you want to avoid the mandate forever, just never withhold more than you owe.

 

No, what was proven was the lie that the penalty was just an overwhelming burden is, in fact, yet another lie about the ACA.

 

While you're busy giggling like a little girl consider that the IRS does not accept examples on your return.

"Determining an individual's required contribution— Individuals not eligible for coverage under an employer plan. If you or another member of your tax household can't purchase coverage under an employer plan, the individual's required contribution is based on the premium for the lowest cost bronze plan available through the Marketplace minus the maximum premium tax credit that you could have claimed if the individuals had enrolled in this plan. For this purpose, use the lowest cost bronze plan available through the Marketplace that covers everyone in your tax household: For whom a personal exemption deduction is claimed on your tax return, Who isn't eligible for employer coverage, and Who doesn't qualify for another coverage exemption. For information on the lowest cost bronze plan you could have purchased for your tax household, visit www.HealthCare.gov/tax-tool or contact the Marketplace serving your area. Subtract from the premium the maximum premium tax credit that you could have claimed if these individuals had enrolled in that plan. You can claim the exemption for unaffordable coverage for the individual if the result is more than 8.13% of your household income. "

In the example the Married couples lowest cost Bronze plan was $13k and they were not eligible for any tax credit (subsidy). So what income level is $13k less than 8%?

Written out as .08 x Z = $13k solve for Z

Now click Start/Run and type CALC
type 13000 hit the / (divided by) symbol and type 0.08 and click = and you get $162,500. Different because of rounding errors but the result is that this married couple is exempt from the penalty because "You can claim the exemption for unaffordable coverage for the individual if the result is more than 8.13% of your household income."

I'd feel sorry for you at tax time but, let's face it, if you're that big a sucker you deserve what you get. People working at Hewitt need money too. Yours is better than mine

 

Sorry............but fake news is no longer in vogue since Trump took office. There were several examples on the IRS website. Several posters in this thread making much less got hit with the insurance penalty. I suggest you get out of the business of preparing free returns. I do suppose your "clients" are getting their money's worth however.

 

They do.

Aren't you glad your Block guy took that three hour course so he could charge you $200 and get you to pay more taxes than you owe? I find the stupidity and ignorance of the collective you endlessly entertaining.

 

Are you a Monty Python fan? From this day forth, you'll be forever known as the Black Knight.[video=youtube;zKhEw7nD9C4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKhEw7nD9C4[/video]

 

I find 98% of python immature and annoying. Hey, I see the similarities to you!

 

Yes Black Knight. When confronted with facts, in black and white, you yell "TIS BUT A FLESH WOUND!"
I've never seen anyone get out and out owned like you did and somehow, someway, claim victory.

 

Hmm. Seems simple enough.

Got math?
Got the ability to follow simple instructions?
ME? Yes, so people did not pay the penalty.
You? No, so you paid the penalty.

Ability to read?
Me? Yes I can read the ACA and understand it gave insurance companies the ability to screw over their customers.
You? No. You only know what you've been told.

Losing is the next best thing to winning. Be happy with that.

 

You did not read the IRS instructions. You did not read the flowchart of what are the basic requirements. There are exemptions for people who filed returns under the threshold, had short coverage gaps, none of those you "cited" qualified for exemptions. In short, you don't have enough expertise to properly populate the chart to calculate the penalty, which in itself is amazing for the fact that it takes into account the spread between Bronze coverage and 8% of income.

You DO realize you must populate fields with uncovered individuals and months of uncovered health care?

Obamacare penalty calculator
Year
State

Are you married Yes No
Members in household
Uninsured adults (18+) 1
Uninsured children 1
Months uninsured 12
Adjusted gross income* 60000

Annual penalty
$1,242.50
Avoid Penalty, find a health insurance plan
Wait. You may be eligible for a subsidy.
Do I Qualify

Source: https://www.healthinsurance.org/obamacare/obamacare-penalty-calculator/
Follow us: @EyeOnInsurance on Twitter | healthinsurance.org on Facebook

 

That's why, oh ye of no tax knowledge, I follow the actual instructions, fill out the actual forms, find the actual cost of insurance in my area.

Now you can pick and choose certain criteria that will change outcomes but do not represent most realities. For example, if I take your sample above and make the parent 65, they're eligible for a tax credit that reduces the cost (in Florida) to less than $80 per month. Lower that age to 50 and the cost goes up to $210 per month.

85% of Americans get health insurance through work or government programs
7% through private plans

96% of the remaining adults without coverage reside in states where the refusal to expand Medicaid has left them unable to afford coverage.

According to KFF 3.5M Americans were eligible for the penalty in 2016 (2015 tax year). That is about 1/10 of 1%.

Eligibility for the penalty varies according to :
Age
Number of dependents
Marital status
Cost of insurance in their area.

You pick an example where someone pays, I can pick a similar example where they don't.

But, the math says, straight up, if EVERONE that is ineligible for any subsidy didn't get insurance and had to pay the penalty, you'd still be talking about less than 1/2 of 1% of everyone.

Still just math little one.

 

Nice try at moving the goal posts. Yes, there are exemptions for people making less than the threshold. Curious why you picked someone 65, maybe it's because they are exempt and eligible for medicare?


Nice try on the fuzzy math there that less than .005 of the population was liable for the penalty. You are still chasing windmills with your cute little subsidy end around, there are plenty of people who qualified for subsidies but didn't sign up, not knowing it was very cheap for low income earners or still couldn't afford it unless it was free. Then there are those who had no clue to apply. Nice basket of red herrings you have there, amazing how you managed to round them all up in your little fantasy world. You've been called out, cornered, and now want to hide behind the few exceptions that exist.

In 2015 CNBC reported at the time that 7.5 million people paid the penalty. Just a guestimate but that is somewhere between 4 and 5% of all taxpayers if not higher. The penalties were scheduled to increase each year so it will or would have been interesting to see this year's results. Trump has actually made this a moot point by directing the IRS to accept a return without the mandate questions answered.Good luck rounding up all those who just leave that part blank.