IRS waives penalties for late payments linked to PPACA

By Richard Rubin

January 27, 2015 at 06:58 AM

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(Bloomberg) — The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will waive some penalties for taxpayers who owe taxes in connection with a Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) premium subsidy program.

The changes, announced Monday in IRS Notice 2015-09, apply only to people who received the PPACA advanced premium tax credit (APTC) subsidy on their insurance in 2014. On tax returns, they must reconcile eligibility for the credit with their actual income and pay back some of the subsidy if they received too much.

See also: Are you a PPACA acronym animal?

That can happen if someone got a higher-paying job or a raise during 2014 and didn't ask the government to alter the subsidy.

The IRS will waive penalties for making that payment late or for failing to pay estimated taxes throughout 2014.

Taxpayers must send in a letter for a penalty waiver. They still must pay the taxes within a year and will owe interest after April 15, the due date for individual tax returns.

About 8 million people bought qualified health plan (QHP) coverage through the PPACA public health insurance exchanges in 2014. About 85 percent of those who initially enrolled received subsidies. In most cases, the subsidy money went directly to the QHP issuers. Some consumers will receive the subsidy money in the form of tax refund money after they file their tax returns for 2014.

The usual late-filing penalties won't apply to people who must make payments for failing to comply with the individual requirement to purchase health insurance, officials say.

See also: CMS posts PPACA tax tips.

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