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Level 2
posted Apr 14, 2022 11:20:50 AM

(California) Form 3853 bug. I am eligible to have short gap coverage. I did not have health insurance coverage for 3 consecutive months. TOKEN #: 1001068

When I unselect August/September/October, I get penalized.

 

When I unselect ANY OTHER consecutive 3 months, the penalty is waived.

 

PLEASE ADVISE.

 

Token #: 1001068

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1 Best answer
Alumni
Apr 14, 2022 12:35:05 PM

dippinb,

 

Yes, this certainly seems to be a bug.  But please exit and reenter TurboTax to check if that resolves the problem.  If not, I'll report it.

 

It appears you have a desktop version.  If so, try going to the Forms view and find form 3858 and try to enter the exemption code C (short term coverage gap) to override.

 

Finally, if the glitch reproduces, the override doesn't take, and you are anticipating a refund excluding the health coverage penalty, I would defer filing until the issue is resolved.  There is no penalty applied to refund returns filed after April 18th.

 

Good luck and please keep me informed.

4 Replies
Alumni
Apr 14, 2022 12:35:05 PM

dippinb,

 

Yes, this certainly seems to be a bug.  But please exit and reenter TurboTax to check if that resolves the problem.  If not, I'll report it.

 

It appears you have a desktop version.  If so, try going to the Forms view and find form 3858 and try to enter the exemption code C (short term coverage gap) to override.

 

Finally, if the glitch reproduces, the override doesn't take, and you are anticipating a refund excluding the health coverage penalty, I would defer filing until the issue is resolved.  There is no penalty applied to refund returns filed after April 18th.

 

Good luck and please keep me informed.

Level 2
Apr 14, 2022 12:45:24 PM

I appreciate you so much.  Thank you.  Yes, I spent a lot of time on it.  Have exited and restarted many times before doing the override.  Had an update yesterday, but it still didn't fix the problem.  Please report it.

 

I was able to make sure that the penalty was waived by checking only 2 months, THEN I went into forms to override.  The penalty remained waived.

 

I notice that I get penalized if I unselect January/February/March OR August/September/October.  Penalty is waived for every other 3 consecutive months of no insurance (e.g. February/March/April or SEP/OCT/NOV).

 

I was thinking that there was some kind of weird rule involving January or October.

 

Thank you again.  I can finally proceed.

Alumni
Apr 14, 2022 3:47:42 PM

dippinb,

 

I've reported the issue.  Glad you were able to work around it.  The Jan-Feb-Mar trio would be specially handled to check if the immediately preceding Dec was covered.  But the Aug-Sep-Oct glitch is definitely a bug.

Level 2
Apr 14, 2022 10:15:37 PM

Understood.

 

You are too awesome. Thank you so much.