ACA - Health Law Question for 2016 Taxes?

[maverickfhs 0]

So my wife immigrated to the USA, middle of last year. We are filing our taxes jointly and I have her insurance with me, through work.

 

Now since she was out of the USA(waiting for visa) part of year, do I have to pay penalty for those months when she wasn't in the country?

 

Any link or help would be greatly appreciated, since this ACA deductions/exemptions and penalties are very confusing.

 

Thanks very much.

 

MODS: Please move the thread if it's not in the right place, thanks.

Edited February 28, 2017 by maverickfhs

[yuna628 9,676]

1 minute ago, maverickfhs said:

So my wife immigrated to the USA, middle of last year. We are filing our taxes jointly and I have her insurance with me, through work.

 

Now since she was out of the USA(waiting for visa) part of year, do I have to pay penalty for those months when she wasn't in the country?

 

Any link or help would be greatly appreciated, since this ACA deductions/exemptions and penalties are very confusing.

 

Thanks very much.

Nope. If she's living outside of the US it doesn't count. It only would count when she entered the country depending on circumstances (if she entered on a K1 you have a bit of a gap - but if she entered with a green card already it may be different). If you got her added to your insurance fairly quickly after she entered there should be no issues. The IRS has language in place to determine when an immigrant can be counted as a 'resident' and would fall under the penalty. The ACA also gives one various exemptions that can be filed for, meaning the penalty is unlikely to apply.

 

I'll give you an example of when a penalty might apply: immigrant enters on a fiancé visa and marries the now-spouse at say, Jan 2016. The couple wait for a considerable amount of time to add the immigrant to an insurance plan or to obtain insurance or even to file AOS. The clock continues ticking and the penalty starts adding up.

 

But no, the time spent living in her own country doesn't count, so don't worry about that.

[rsilva 18]

Just did the same on my taxes.  You are confused because you elected to file joint and have to pay tax like she was a resident all year.  If you look at the instructions for the form, you should qualify under exemption code C.  You will need to declare the months she was insured and the months she wasn't on the form so that it matches up if the IRS actually checks on what your company reported.  However, Trump could get rid of Obamacare all together... so it might be ok.  

[rsilva 18]

check this tread as I put more info in.

 

 

[maverickfhs 0]

Thanks for your help and input. Where can I find exemption code C? I am using Turbo Tax for my taxes. Does it have that option?

[Ontarkie 14,226]

~~Duplicate threads merged. Please only start one thread for the same topic.~~

~~Thread also moved to Taxes and Finances, from Moving Here and Your New Life - As this is a tax question.~~

[maverickfhs 0]

Ontarkie, my apologies and thanks for merging them.