Follow up. Those making less than 9500 are exempt form the Obamacare tax. At or above that threshold the minimum tax kicks in. That was 695.00 for 2016. But it is tied to the CPI this year. So I don’t know how to compute the minimum tax for this year. But I bet that it is no less than last year.
So if you have a $9500 income and no other exemptions from the mandate then you would pay zero in federal taxes and yet $695.00 or more for the penalty. Or 7 to 8% of your income.
Alternative minimum tax is not what you are calling minimum tax. The alt min tax is based on income without a deduction for salt.
I answered wrong question above to you. I believe the Obama care penalties do not apply if you do not have to file return. The higher standard deduction will eliminate penalties for many in 2018 because of higher income requirements to file a return. They snuck in a penalty waiver with those changes for many lower income people.
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23. If my income is so low that I am not required to file a federal income tax return, do I need to do anything special to claim an exemption from the individual shared responsibility provision?
No. If you are not required to file a federal income tax return for a year because your gross income is below your return filing threshold, you are automatically exempt from the shared responsibility provision for that year and do not need to take any further action to secure an exemption. If you are not required to file a tax return for a year but file one anyway, you will be able to claim the exemption on Form 8965 filed with your tax return.