Tax Penalty for Being Uninsured/ECN

[thegoose94]

I aged out of my mother's health insurance plan when I turned 26 and therefore did not have health insurance in December 2020. Does this count as "a situation that waives the tax penalty for being uninsured"? If so, does this count as a "hardship or other situation that kept me from getting insurance"? This would require an Exemption Certificate Number which I do not have. Basically I do not know what option to select to reflect this situation and if I get a tax penalty for not being covered December 2020.

Otherwise I had health insurance for every month of 2020 except for December.

[JotikaT2]

I am assuming you are referring to a state health insurance mandate as the requirement for your federal return was eliminated in 2019.

Health insurance mandate - Federal information

Can you please clarify which state you are referring to so we can assist you accordingly?

Each state has different requirements and therefore, the answer may vary based upon the state in question.

[thegoose94]

Hello, thank you for your response, I am referring to California and we have a healthcare penalty mandate as of 2020.

[thegoose94]

For anyone out there who is wondering, starting 2020, California mandated a tax penalty for any individual who does not have coverage for the entire year. It's explained here on the Covered California website:

https://www.coveredca.com/learning-center/tax-penalty-details-and-exemptions/penalty/

And there's a useful penalty estimator tool on there too!

https://www.ftb.ca.gov/file/personal/filing-situations/healthcare/estimator/Home/Estimate

So for example, I didn't have coverage for December 2020 only that year, but the tool estimator showed me that I don't owe a penalty. Anyway, so I ended up answering my own question after doing a better google search.

Take care.