PrintHHS still hasn't sent out 80,000 corrected Obamacare tax forms
You may recall back in early February, it was discovered that more than 800,000 taxpayers had been sent incorrect tax information on their Obamacare subsidies.
Six weeks later, the Department of Health and Human Services has yet to send corrected info to 80,000 people. There's less than a month until the IRS tax deadline on April 15.
Filers who purchased subsidy health coverage on the Obamacare exchanges need the form, known as a 1095-A, to reconcile their tax credits with their actual income in 2014. A filer cannot do that accurately unless the form lists the correct benchmark plan — the second-lowest cost plan on an exchange’s silver tier.
Treasury Department officials have said the estimated 50,000 customers who filed their taxes before they received the correct forms do not have to refile or pay back any subsidy they were not entitled to.
Consumers who would have received money back from the IRS may file again.
This tax season marks the first time American taxpayers have to address their health care status on their returns. The vast majority of people will simply check a box to attest they have coverage through their employers or other means.
Employers are not reporting matching data to the government in this first go-round with Obamacare, so the administration must trust filers to be honest.
However, anyone who lies on the forms would be doing so under the penalty of perjury and could be exposed during an audit, said Mark Mazur, assistant Treasury secretary for tax policy.
Here's a blank copy of form 1095-A. If that second column in Part III isn't filled in correctly, you can't figure out if your subsidy is right or not. About 1 in 5 taxpayers getting subsidies received incorrect information causing this nightmare of a snafu.
Putting taxpayers on the honor system to report their information honestly is ridiculous - especially when it's believed that one in three people who got a subsidy received an incorrect amount. The bottom line: Making taxpayers run through this maze of forms and reporting requirements unnecessarily complicates our lives and grows the size of government. If Republicans are going to replace Obamacare with something simpler, they can start by getting rid of these forms.
