If I understand the ACA correctly, the IRS can only seize REFUNDS for the amount the government says you owe in penalty for not buying the insurance. I’m guessing that’s because the administration and Democrats have maintained that it is NOT a tax, ergo, the IRS can’t collect it via its usual thuggery means - garnishing wages, bank accounts, liens, etc.
It is ironic that the reason they can’t do this - it isn’t a tax according to them - was the one thing Traitor Justice Roberts maintained in his decision - it is a tax.
Regardless, unless they change the rules, the IRS can only get your refunds. If you aren’t due a refund, all they can do is harass you.
What will happen is they will start taking the Obamacare penalty fees from payroll taxes first...anything collected after that applies to taxes due.
When the end of the year comes around you will owe taxes, not a penalty fee...and they know how to collect taxes.
At one point a number of years ago, I knew to the penny what my annual income would be. Also, it was possible to define yourself in your W-4 form as “married + “X” dependents + take out an additional $52.73” So, I worked with payroll to do just that. Sometimes, it took a mid-year revision of my W-4 form to get it right, depending on what tax changes had occured. No CPA or tax lawyer involved; just a piece of lined paper an a pen. One year I owed an additional $5 on April 15th, and another year I got a check for $9. Merely a thought......
From the article:
“.....But Democrats still gave the IRS significant authority.
“Although the Act provides that the IRS may not use criminal prosecutions, notices of federal tax liens, or levies on property to collect an unpaid penalty, the IRS may employ offsets against federal tax refunds,” the Obama administration wrote in its 2012 Supreme Court brief in defense of the mandate. “The IRS also may seek payment through correspondence or phone calls from IRS employees.”........
“Regardless, unless they change the rules, the IRS can only get your refunds. “
The president has made many changes in the law with no more right to do so than I have. They’ll change by directive any damn thing they please.
It wouldn't seem likely that the IRS would harass sheeple that are eligible for exchange subsidys. That would only expedite overturning the law. However, rebellious higher 6 figure incomes would make a juicy target. The maximum tax penalty is the average price of a bronze plan in the US..
Yes, but let's not pretend that that is a small thing.
They have some BIG harassment guns.
As soon as the penalty or tax or fee or whatever is commingled with other taxes owed the IRS can go for it with all of the usual methods at their disposal. Including interest accrued.