Roughly 2 weeks ago, I wrote about the IRS sending out corrected tax forms for the 820,000 Obamacare users who received incorrect 1095As in late January. On March 22, it was reported that, “Federal officials said on a Friday press call that about 740,000 corrected forms have been mailed out or can be downloaded from the HealthCare.gov site. About 80,000 corrected forms will be mailed and available online next week”
However, it is apparent that the IRS still has not fixed those users who remain in tax limbo right now, because it was announced that those still affected with incorrect forms are eligible now for an extension until October 15 — but only if they request it.
Those other 740,000 users who didn’t receive their correct forms until the third week of March are not eligible for the extension, but instead have to scramble to get their taxes filed by April 15th. These users were delayed an additional 7 weeks after the government failed to send them their correct 1095As on time (January 31). The 1095A is the proof of insurance for tax forms, and is necessary to calculate whether or not the proper subsidy amount was given in 2014.
The kicker here is that a person must know that he or she needs to request the tax extension. Otherwise, they will still responsible to have their taxes filed for April 15th.
This is nearly as absurd as the scenario that is unfolding with the Obamacare users who are both uninsured and do not make enough income that requires them to file taxes. In order to claim the penalty exemption based on lack of adequate income…they must file a tax return. And what if they don’t know to do so? If they do not claim their exemption, they will be on the hook for the “shared responsibility” payment and “are likely to get hit with an unexpected tax bill later on.”
Obamacare continues to be an onerous, burdensome mess for this country.