Posted on 03/16/2016 3:36:31 AM PDT by Kaslin
"Where is my 1095-A? This is what it must be like dealing with a government agency in a third world country."
That was the lament on Twitter of just one poor citizen this week trying to get his tax records in order. Nationwide, hard-working Americans are struggling to meet the April 18 IRS filing deadline. Standing in the way: the bumbling Obamacare bureaucracy.
In Minnesota, an estimated 18,000 people who were on health insurance plans last year offered through MNsure, the state Obamacare health insurance exchange, still haven't received their 1095-A form. It's the "health insurance marketplace statement" required to file accurate tax returns and claim the premium tax credit.
Twin Cities officials blame "technical bugs" and promise they'll be sending more of the documents out next week. But it's small consolation to farmers in Minnesota who were required to file their taxes by March 1.
"This is the second year in a row MNsure has been late sending my 1095-A form and it's cost me extra money when I have to file for an extension on my tax filings," farmer Robert Marg of Winona County, Minnesota, told his local TV station.
In Hawaii, the paper-pushers sent out their 1095-A forms on time -- but the documents are worthless to thousands of taxpayers enrolled in the state's now-defunct Obamacare exchange, the Hawaii Health Connector. According to the Pacific Business News, "approximately 80 percent of the forms sent out to taxpayers" contain errors, including address problems.
The Aloha State is still digging out from the mess the overseers of the bankrupted state exchange made last year, when Hawaii Health Connector staff issued 1095-A forms manually because the bureaucracy did not have a working automated system for creating 1095-As. How many taxpayers were affected? "CMS and IRS have not been able to provide error rates for 2014," PBN reported.
What century is this?
After I reported on my own bizarro 1095-A nightmare last year and revisited the Obamacare tax-time troubles last week in Conservative Review, I gathered yet more horror stories. Citizens trying to get through to the HealthCareGov.com hotline have been trapped in the spiral of "escalation" -- Washington-speak for getting the runaround.
"On the phone with @HealthCareGov for more than an hour. I just want my 1095A or B form. #nomoreescalationsplease," one Obamacare hostage wrote.
"So apparently you have to re-escalate the escalation of the escalation. All to get my 1095A. This is INSANE," another wrote.
One reader detailed for me how she had withdrawn from Covered California, the state's health insurance exchange, in 2014, yet received 1095-A forms two years in a row incorrectly showing that she was enrolled.
Insurer Anthem "said that they called Covered California and reported that I did not have coverage for 2015," the reader told me. "Then 45 days later, we received a corrected 1095. However, it was not corrected. It was the same 1095 we previously received containing the same mistakes. After being on hold for 40 minutes with Covered California, the person I spoke with said, "Yes, I was not covered in 2015, but no one had gone into the system to generate a corrected 1095 and that I will be receiving the new one within 45 days. Unfortunately, that will be after April 15 when I am due to file taxes. What a nightmare."
Yet another reader lamented that D.C. politicians have been deaf to their plight. "Thank you so much for the kindness in responding to me," she wrote after we traded stories. "I am not kidding, I just about cried that a real human being has finally heard me. My husband and I know we are nobodies in the world. He's a small-business owner (a handyman) and I have an online vintage store on Etsy. So no one on the Hill cares about what people like us are going through."
It's always taxpayers who are forced to pay for the incompetence and apathy of their government tormentors.
Oh, the stories I could tell from the tax office. Someday I will.
Not reading the full article, as is my wont, if the gubermint THINKS you have a 1095-A, whether or not you actually had coverage, your tax filing will be trapped in the ICO office who will send you Letter 12-C demanding your Form 8962 and a copy of the 1095-A [hey, if you know they have one, how about sharing it with them?]. Until you reply with the requested info, your refund is in limbo.
What is the 8962 you ask? It is the reconciliation of your ACTUAL income against what you SHOULD have received as an Advanced Premium Tax Credit. The APTC is that magic number that reduced the out of pocket premium to something you could afford. Low-balled your income numbers to get a nice low premium? Your day of reckoning is at hand. Get married during the year and your new honey has a nice big income while your policy was based on your lower income? BOHICA. Get bad advice from your Shepherd when signing up for the policy? It comes back on you and there is NO APPEAL PROCESS. Think your non-taxable income didn’t count when getting your policy or were never asked if anyone got Social Security in your household? Braaaaaaap, wrong answer. Stand by to repay a lot of money.
1095-B’s and -C’s, which come from the small business / gubermint agencies and large employers respectively, are all screwed up. 9 out of 10 contain errors and the ones from HHS are the worst. And it is their form! They are so screwed up that the IRS made them optional, but only for this year. I have no clue as to what will happen when they match up that flawed info to your filed return later on this year.
My best advice to you is find a competent tax preparer if you are stuck in the ICO. Also, save your plan offering info from your open enrollment period. With that there are minor miracles that can be worked.
Adjust your withholding so you never receive a refund. Problem solved.
I only sympathize with the people who did not vote for the politicians who put this legislation into effect. For those people who did vote for this legislation, I hope they enjoy their lesson in reality. I wonder who those folks will be voting for this time around......
file an extension
That is advice that has been kicked around for owing penalties. People that owe some or all of the advanced tax credits for under reporting income have to pay it back..
Right. Ten bucks says the farmer cited in this article is a big a supporter of the DFL Party — the Democratic, Farmer and Labor Party that is basically the Minnesota state Democrat Party.
” People that owe some or all of the advanced tax credits for under reporting income have to pay it back.. “
Not what this thread is about. It is about the “return” being held up by inability to file due to gov’t not issuing a needed form.
If you are not due a “return”, just file on taxday and pay estimated tax, no intent to under report anything.
Scammers will eventually get busted and assets (if any) siezed by the gooberment.
Sorry for taking your brief post out of context. I try to zero out my refund, but for the math challenged it can be hard.
Yes, it can be difficult. But we need to mention it often and emphasize the importance of eliminating overpayment of taxes at every opportunity. Hopefully the math challenged will ask for help, and benefit every year for the rest of their lives.
There is nothing wrong with filing (and paying) an estimated tax return, and filing later when all the forms show up. No penalties or interest accrue. Failure to pay taxes by the due date is what gets folks in trouble.
I’m one of those people in limbo ,, I do not and have not had Obamacare and my refund (substantial as I had a credit at the IRS from a judgement) is stuck... I sent the ICO people my return on paper with 1095-B’s and C’s showing coverage ... hope they pass me through... I spent time with the O’care people but they wouldn’t issue a letter stating I never had O’care...
I strongly suggest you call the marketplace number for your state and go over ALL the Social Security numbers on your return and find out which one has a 1095-A in their system. That is your hold up. I guarantee.
The ACA is not a DIY tax proposition, unfortunately.
Nope, won’t help in the case of a missing form.
The underground economy is guaranteed to grow further - leading to even more desperate attempts by the Feds to tax it. We are headed toward 100% income withholding and a government rebate check in your mailbox equaling the amount some bureaucrat decides you “need” based on your political utility.
I strongly suggest you call the marketplace number for your state and go over ALL the Social Security numbers on your return and find out which one has a 1095-A in their system. That is your hold up. I guarantee.
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Nobody had or has a 1095-A ,, I spoke with multiple “Healthcare Marketplace” reps ,, I know we had commercial insurance all year and have the 1095-B’s and C’s to show it (we had Cobra for 4 months when my wife was on a leave of absence .. but the policy was in effect all year).. The only instance the Obamacare people could find of any of us in their system was by searching by my old e:mail address ; they found me shopping rates but not purchasing years ago...
If the ICO group really wanted this resolved their form letter would state for whom they have a 1095-a... give me a starting point to disprove their contention. The only way I see their contention as having any validity is if one of our SSN’s was compromised and used by an identity thief..
PUT this into effect, or does that include the collude-rs that KEEP this in effect? Gonna be damn hard to fight against that which 1) They excluded themselves FROM 2) We able to not only bend the law, but BREAK it, in their favor (Congress is a ‘small biz’) and 3) have paid in full during the last budget ‘battle’ (I put quotes around battle for *I* didn’t see ANY *fight*).
It’s one thing to point the finger, it’s another to turn a blind eye to the tree-trunk in one’s eye (and knife in the back).
Where were all these ‘grand ideas’ OUTSIDE of an election year, aside from withering on the vine and/or the mind?
“...We are headed toward 100% income withholding and a government rebate check in your mailbox equaling the amount some bureaucrat decides you ‘need’...”
Which would, I’d be $$ to doughnuts, still pass ‘Constitutional muster’ to SCOTUS and the rest...5th/13th be damned (as it is today).
Ain’t Democracy, as it slips and slides to Socialism, GRAND?!
“Nope, won’t help in the case of a missing form.”
Yes it will. Try doing your own taxes and actually READ the instructions. Filing amended returns have been a part of the tax code since before you were born.
RTFM and follow the instructions.
Stick with the context, man. If you don’t reconcile your 1095-A via Form 8962, it doesn’t matter if you set your withholding to zero. Repayment of a tax credit not allowed IS collectible with the full fury of the IRS and will ultimately lead to garnishment and liens. It also disqualifies you from the Marketplace. I do this for a living and have been responding to 12C letters all day long.
But thanks for the insults, Richard. Do you mind if I call you Dick?
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