Big changes, taxes and health Insurance…oh my!


My quote for today:  “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” – T.S. Eliot

Oooh big stuff today.  I turned in my notice at my day job.  The house will officially be on the market on December 1, and the hubby and I are frazzled to the core.  Lots of craziness going on here.

rv camping suzys sitcom

The job thing.  Well, something literally had to go.  Granted, money still needs to come in and while the website does well, it needs a bit of supplemental activity.  I had a temporary job offer that I just couldn’t refuse and went ahead and bit the bullet.  It involves helping a company with their website and social networking.  And that is something totally up my alley!  The great thing about an online job like that is the fact that I can do it anywhere!  So the RV is waiting…

In the meantime, this brings to a head a subject that has been weighing me down for quite a few months now.

Health Insurance.

Yes, two dirty words.  Sorry, I know this is supposed to be a G rated blog.  Unfortunately, those dirty words have been haunting me.  Leaving the job means suddenly my health insurance is up in the air.  I had mentioned earlier that I was shopping.  Well, shopping has become a necessity now.  Because as we all know, those of us that live in the US are now required to have health insurance or we will be fined at tax time.

Tax Time.  Boy oh boy.  We are full of dirty words today…

health care options

For the past five years, my husband and I have used TurboTax in order to file our taxes, and plan to do so this year also.  In my research, I found that TurboTax has some great ideas in place to help us all feel confident about the new health care component of filing taxes.

health care options

Some things to remember this year:

  • Open Enrollment for the health cafe exchanges starts on November 15 and ends February 15, 2015
  • The new requirement to report health care on your taxes does NOT mean people need to pay extra for a tax preparer – your hard earned money should go to care, not compliance.
  • The Affordable Care Act (ACA) or Obamacare is designed to ensure that all folks have healthcare and imposes penalties on those that do not.  
  • The Insured:
    • For most people (9 out of 10 taxpayers), complying with the ACA on taxes is a non-event because they have insurance through their employer, Medicaid, Medicare, or a private provider (Congressional Budget Office). They will just check a box on their tax return to confirm they have health insurance. There’s no need to spend more on tax preparation.
  • Insured through Exchanges:
    • This year 8 million people became insured through healthcare.gov or their state exchange (Congressional Budget Office).
    • Those who purchased insurance through the exchanges will receive a 1095-A form from healthcare.gov or their state exchange. They will enter information from their 1095-A on their taxes, just like they do with their W-2 forms.
  • The Uninsured:
    • Roughly 42 million people are uninsured in America (Congressional Budget Office).
    • Those who do not have insurance and don’t qualify for exemptions will pay a penalty of about $95 or about 1% of their income.
      • If you’re currently uninsured, think about buying insurance this year during open enrollment.
      • TurboTax has a free calculator to estimate how much your penalty may be for 2014. The health care penalty is based on your family size and income. You can find the free calculator at TurboTax Health.

So what does that mean when tax time rolls around?  It doesn’t mean that your tax forms are more complicated.  Thank goodness.  For those of us that have health insurance, it will just mean checking a box.

dog on laptop

But I do have to tell you that my experience with TurboTax has always been a good one.  TurboTax Health can provide you with the tools to understand health care and your taxes.

With software like TurboTax, you’re never exposed to the ACA forms – TurboTax has already done the work for you and will ask you the questions you need to answer so you can be confident your taxes are done right.

So when tax season comes around, I plan on letting TurboTax do the work for me.

Kind of wish they could pick out my healthcare too!  So, onto more research.  Bleh.

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own. #TurboTaxACA #CleverGirls