1095-A interview asks which business, I have 2 self-employed businesses, refund varies

[lustrous]

I have marketplace medical plan for myself and my family, am self-employed with two businesses.  Wife is employed with W-2 and withholdings.  The interview asks which of those 3 income streams the medical plan should be attributed to.  Each of the 3 has different income and expense amounts, so choosing one provides a different tax/refund amount than choosing another.  There appears to be no guidance on what is the correct way to attribute the 1095-A in this case.  The interview only allows choosing one of the income streams.  Any insight is greatly appreciated. 

[TeresaM]

First, the amount that could apply to the self-employed health insurance deduction is the amount you paid for the premium and does not include the Premium Tax Credit. 

And you can only use it up to the amount of net profit of your business, so you may find that helps the decision.

Also, you can still enter any additional premiums such as for vision or dental that are not included in the plan on the Form 1095-A.  So you could link one business to the Marketplace and put the dental premiums on the other business. 

If this does not completely solve the problem, please let us know more details, so we may better assist.

[lustrous]

Thank you, the idea to use dental premiums to offset a second income is helpful.  However, I must only infer from your reply that the filer may choose to apply the deductions to the incomes in any way they choose, i.e. whichever results in the highest refund or largest deduction.  This seems arbitrary.  Do you agree that this is a choice the filer is allowed to make?  Surprising, as it seems the SE marketplace insurance writeoff should affect the sum of income in the same way that the coverage protects the subscriber regardless of which business they are participating in on any given day.

[VolvoGirl]

Here's some general info on heath ins and Schedule C.

Self-employed health insurance deduction goes on Form 1040 Schedule 1 line 16 which flows to 1040 line 8a as long as the expense is not greater than your Net Profit on Schedule C individually.  If the insurance is more than your Net Profit on each of your Schedule Cs you can split it up and enter part on each Schedule C so you don't go over the Net Profit on either one.

If your health ins exceeds your net self-employment income it gets split. An amount equal to your net self-employment income goes on Form 1040 Schedule 1 line 17 (to 1040 line 10) and the remainder gets added in to medical expenses on Schedule A.