Millions may be eligible for Obamacare penalty exemption

Filing your taxes can be confusing but this year, you might need a little help now that health care is part of your return.

ABC-7 gathered information to make things easier to understand. Many people will simply check the yes box when asked covered by health coverage all of 2014. For those who received subsidies for Obamacare or didn’t have insurance at all, things may be a little more complicated.

“I didn’t even know (about the exemptions) to be honest but I think some of them are good. Getting exemptions is a good thing,” Armando Rodriguez said. Rodriguez and many others don’t know that not everyone who didn’t have health insurance in 2014 will have to pay a tax penalty.

“It can be up to $285 for a family and that’s the lower limit,” H&R Block tax specialist Richard Gartland said in a company YouTube video. “It is the greater of that amount or 1 percent of the modified gross income amount.”

Due to the Affordable Care Act, more people may be reaching out for tax professionals. Whether people had private insurance or were signed up through the Health Insurance Marketplace, the Internal Revenue Service will ask if taxpayers were covered.

There is a list of more than 23 exemptions of the healthcare.gov website. Those filing their taxes may not have to pay the $95 dollars per adult or 1 percent of their income, whichever is greater, this year. Some include hardships such as experiencing the death of a close family member, going through loss due to a fire, or having expenses due to caring for an ill, disabled or aging family member.

Another thing to keep in mind, those who received lower Obamacare monthly rates due to projected income may have to pay some of that back due to actual income earned in 2014.

The tax deadline for this year is April 15.

For information through healthcare.gov, including the list of all exemptions, click here.

For information through H&R Block, click here.