The Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate requires individuals to have health insurance coverage or pay a penalty. It is enforced each year on the individual’s federal tax return.
In February 2017, the IRS said it would not reject individual tax returns that did not provide health information coverage for 2016 (also called “silent returns”). These returns would continue to be accepted and filed by the IRS. On October 13, 2017, the IRS made a complete reversal of this decision.
Changes for the upcoming 2018 tax filing season (filing 2017 returns):
- The IRS will NOT accept electronically filed tax returns where the taxpayer doesn’t certify whether they had health insurance for the year, and
- Paper tax returns that do not certify compliance may be suspended pending receipt of additional information, and any refunds due may be delayed.
This will be the first tax season where the IRS will not accept tax returns that omit this health coverage information. All taxpayers should indicate on their 2017 tax returns whether they (and everyone else listed on their return) had health coverage, qualified for an exemption, or are paying an individual mandate penalty.
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