Get your taxes done using TurboTax

The way that the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) works is that to enable to "afford" health insurance, the government pays some or all of your health insurance premium. This is paid directly to the insurer so you never see it (this is part of the confusion among taxpayers).

This amount paid directly to the insurance company is called the Premium Tax Credit (PTC). It is reconciled on form 8962.

When you first sign up with the ACA, you estimate what your income will be for the year. The amount of PTC that is paid for you is dependent on your estimate.

However, at the end of the year, you now know your actual income for the year. If you underestimated your income at the beginning of the year, then you were advanced too much PTC, which you have to pay back at the end of the year. (the IRS might also give you some more PTC, if the circumstances were reversed).

NOTE: the amount of PTC you get is based on your tax family income, not your income. So you have to include the income of any dependents in entering your ACA information. (Of course, you don't normally report your dependents' incomes elsewhere on the return).

One of the very confusing things about the PTC is that it is calculated on your annual income, not month-by-month (although you would think so when looking at the 8962). So if you start the year not making much money, but end up getting a large increase during the year, what matters is how much you made for the year, not what you made month by month.

There is no way to reduce the repayment of the PTC when you file. Instead, if your income increased or you got married or divorced or had a baby or a number of other life changes, you were supposed to contact the Marketplace and tell them that so they could adjust the amount of PTC you were receiving. You can't adjust it after the end of the year - well, actually, you paying back the PTC IS the adjustment.

What are the entries on lines 24 through 29 on your 8962?