The IRS stated last week that it will not accept electronically filed tax returns in 2018 if taxpayers do not disclose information about their healthcare coverage. Specifically, they’re interested in knowing whether or not you have it.
This comes as the Internal Revenue Service begins to prepare for the enforcement of the individual mandate provision of the Affordable Care Act. The IRS claims that this process will ultimately help individuals successfully file their returns and minimize the refund delays that could occur otherwise.
The health care law obligates the IRS to administer this process. This will be the first time that the revenue service will not accept taxpayer’s returns that omit this information. Tax returns that are rejected do not count as having been filed. If a return is rejected, the taxpayer will have to go through the process of re-filing.
IRS. Health Care Reporting Requirement & What You’ll Need to Do
To comply with this new IRS rule, taxpayers must indicate whether they had coverage, had an exception or will make a shared responsibility payment when filing their 2017 tax returns in 2018.
This new IRS tax return rule does not just apply to electronically submitted returns, but paper tax returns as well. Paper returns may be suspended and refunds delayed pending receipt of the required health insurance information.
It is important to know that if your tax return is rejected it does not count as filed, and you risk a late filing penalty if you don’t re-file it properly. In the light of this, it is of a taxpayer’s interest to work with an experienced, licensed professional that’s up to speed on all the latest changes in health care and the tax code.
Moving Forward: Preparing Yourself for the 2018 Tax Season
The Supreme Court ruled that the “failure to have health insurance penalty” is a tax, which put it squarely in the purview of the IRS to enforce. Like it or not, the IRS is a part of our healthcare system in the United States. To avoid any issues this coming tax season, it is important for taxpayers to have a licensed professional or tax attorney either preparing or at a minimum, reviewing your return before it’s filed to ensure you’re in compliance with the Affordable Care Act.
