The Obamacare Tax Glitch Fallout Continues

The Obama administration revealed on February 20 that about 800,000 taxpayers who signed up for health insurance at Healthcare.gov were sent tax forms with inaccurate information. Government officials are asking them to delay filing their tax returns until the first of week of March, at the earliest. And those who have already filed – estimated to be about 50,000 individuals — may have to resubmit their 2014 returns.

As a result, refunds for taxpayers will be delayed, not to mention the extra hassle. But the impact at tax preparation firms around the country still remains to be seen.

The culprit is Form 1095-A (Health Insurance Marketplace Statement), which is sort of like a W-2 for health care purchasers. About 20 percent of those who bought a health care marketplace plan in 2014 and used tax credits to lower their premiums received faulty information, due to a miscalculation of the premium benchmark amount. Government officials say that these taxpayers will receive revised 1095-As.

Taxpayers can find out the status of a Form 1095-A by logging into their account at HealthCare.gov. A notification has been posted as to whether or not their form was affected.

Reaction to the news was swift. As expected, Republicans lambasted the Obama administration for the glitch, amidst renewed calls to repeal the controversial health care law. For its part, the White House stressed that the vast majority of HealthCare.gov customers have received the correct forms. About 11.4 million taxpayers signed up for this year.

Mark Ciaramitaro, vice president of Health care services at H&R Block, pointed out the inconvenience for early filers in an email sent to CPA Practice Advisor. “These clients, who subsequently will receive a corrected 1095A, will have to amend their tax return and could face an additional repayment obligation for portions of the Advance Premium Tax Credit,”

“The unfortunate reality is that for many of these impacted taxpayers, the tax refund could be the single largest financial payout of the year,” continued Ciaramitaro. “For those who have not filed, through no fault of their own, they are being told to wait to file a tax return, further delaying access to their tax refund. Neither the client, nor the tax preparer, have any indication at the time the client files that the 1095A information is not accurate, which could lead to additional notices and amended returns if the information is proved inaccurate later.”

However, there’s been no official word yet from H&R Block about how they will handle re-filing logistics or whether any additional fees will be involved.

Chuck Lovelace, VP of Affordable Care at Virginia-based Liberty Tax Services, notes that the percentage of early tax filers affected by the error is relatively small. He says that this minority will have to file amended returns once they receive the corrected information. “We’re encouraging our franchisees to help these individuals file amended returns free of charge,” said Lovelace. “Others should wait to file their returns as instructed.” He anticipates that the problems on the government’s end will be resolved by the first week of March.