If any individual on the tax return (taxpayer, spouse or dependent) was covered by a Health Insurance Marketplace plan, they will receive a Form 1095-A, Health Insurance Marketplace Statement. Form 1095-A comes directly from the federal marketplace or a state exchange and is required to be issued to the policyholder by January 31. The taxpayer will receive the form in the mail but they can also download a copy from their account at healthcare.gov.
The information on Form 1095-A is reported on Form 8962, Premium Tax Credit, and the form reconciles the amount of premium tax credit the taxpayer received during the tax year with the amount they were eligible to receive. Since the IRS knows who has marketplace insurance, the return for a taxpayer that had marketplace insurance will reject if e-filed without Form 8962.
Form 1095-A includes the following information needed to complete the Form 8962:
- The policy number for the policy purchased from the federal or state marketplace.
- Each individual covered under the policy.
- The enrollment premiums for each month, found in Part III, column A.
- The applicable Second Lowest Cost Silver Plan (SLCSP) that applies to the covered individual(s). It’s not necessarily the plan which the individual(s) enrolled in but it is used to determine Net Premium Credit. The SLCSP amounts are found in Part III, column B.
- The Advance Premium Tax Credit (APTC) the policyholder received during the year as an offset against their monthly premium. The APTC amounts are found in Part III, column C.
If the taxpayer was covered under marketplace health insurance, their return must include Form 8962. Don't file their return before you obtain a copy of their Form 1095-A.
If the policy is shared between individuals on two or more tax returns, Form 8962 Part IV, Shared Policy Allocation needs to be completed in each return to indicate to the IRS the percentages of columns A, B, and C each taxpayer is being allocated.
Additionally, there are special rules for a husband and wife included on the same Form 1095-A but who are not filing jointly. If you are preparing a tax return for a married individual not filing jointly with their spouse, see the Form 8962 instructions for a discussion of this situation and how it changes preparing Form 8962.
To enter Form 1095-A into Form 8962 in TaxSlayer Pro, from the Main Menu of the tax return, (Form 1040) select:
- Payments, Estimates & EIC
- Premium Tax Credit->PTC (8962)
If the Taxpayer had the policy for the entire year and the row amounts are the same in each column, you won't have to enter every month's numbers but instead will be able to enter the totals at the bottom each column. To do this, from the Form 8962 - Premium Tax Credit Menu select:
- Use Annual PTC Totals?
- You will be asked, "Do all forms 1095-A for your tax household include coverage for January through December with no changes in monthly amounts shown on lines 21-32, columns A and B?"
- If this statement is correct, select YES. Otherwise, select NO.
Select Enter Form 1095-A Amounts (Form 8962 Part 2) and input the amounts from the 1095-A for the premium amount (column A), the premium amount of the SLCSP (column B), and the advance payment of PTC (column C). If you selected YES to using annual PTC totals, you only need to enter the totals for each column as shown on Form 1095-A line 33.
Entering multiple Forms 1095-A
If tax return requires multiple Forms 1095-A:
- Column A: for each month, add the amounts in Column A and enter the total as the Premium Amount;
- Column B: If the SLCSP is the same amount for each month on all the Forms 1095-A, enter that amount for each month - don't add the amounts together. Otherwise, if the policies were purchased in separate states (evidenced by Column B being a different number), see the Instructions for Form 8962 column (b) as the correct amount to enter depends on whether or not more than one state is involved, whether any allocating is being done, and whether the taxpayer's eligibility for PTC varied month to month.
- Column C: for each month, add the amounts in Column C and enter the total as the Advance Payment of PTC.
Once all of the amounts have been entered for each month that the taxpayer had minimum essential coverage as reported on Form 1095-A, exit the menu.
If there is a Net Premium Tax Credit, this amount will be reflected as a Payment on Form 1040 and the taxpayer will receive the benefit of that amount. If the Advance Payment of Premium Tax Credit exceeds the amount that the taxpayer was entitled to receive, the Excess Advance Payment of Premium Tax will be reflected in the Taxes section of Form 1040 and the taxpayer will have to repay the excess advance payment on their tax return.
Note: This is a brief guide on entering Form 1095-A into the TaxSlayer Pro program. This is not intended as tax advice.
Additional Information:
Desktop: Form 8962 - Alternative Calculation Methods
Desktop: Shared Policy Allocation - Divorced or Legally Separated
IRS: Instructions for Form 1095-A
