Hi, LTWatts,
First, I am deeply sorry for the death of your spouse. I can only imagine. Let me do what I can to help with your questions.
When you ask about Roth Conversions vs. ACA supplement that is a complicated question that we cannot answer in specific, because we are not permitted to do calculations for you. That said, you would want to balance the impact of what I assume you mean is the impact on taxable income from a back door roth on your modified AGI against the premium tax credit (PTC) for the ACA. Changes to your modified AGI can change your final premium tax credit (PTC). For many people, modified AGI is the same as AGI on your what is typically row 11 of your tax return, but you should refer to the link provided for specifics.
When considering the impact of changes to your AGI on your PTC, you don't say what state you reside in, so I am unsure if your state has its own marketplace. If it does, please review your state-specific website for your definitive answer. Healthcare.gov is updating their subsidy and cost information for the coming year on November 1. I recommend you check back at or after that date. This page also gives you more information about income. For 2024, here's info that explains the federal poverty level and how it relates to reduced cost coverage for that year.
Note that the marketplace will estimate your PTC based upon your reported data and that information gets "trued up" when you file your form 1040 and include the required form 8962. This link will tell you more about that process and this TurboTax article may also help.
I do not know if you take the standard or the itemized deduction, so I cannot say for certain if your deduction will go down. That said, the standard deductions for various filer types for 2025 are found in this article. Standard deductions for single people are considerably less than those for married folks.
Failure to pay tax penalties can be assessed in certain circumstances. Here's a great article on that topic from a federal perspective. This article also discusses how to make federal estimated tax payments. The article is aimed at self-employed folks, but the same penalty principle applies to all filers.
The ACA knows that income changes, and they have a process for reporting those changes. You can learn more about that here. I have generally found the agents I contacted there to be quite helpful. I hope you have the same experience.
Hope this helps.
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Regards,
Karen
TurboTax Expert
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