I am stuck with a Form 1095-A / Form 8962 problem, which appears to be a TurboTax glitch, and am unable to generate (and file) an accurate return for 2024. I have read a LOT of other question and answer strings on this topic, and have not found a resolution (other than filing an inaccurate return and hoping it does not get rejected).
I am a full-time employee. For several years, my family’s health insurance coverage has been purchased through the Marketplace. So for several years I have been receiving, and needing to include in my federal tax returns, Form 1095-A. TurboTax has seemed to change how these forms, and any applicable reimbursements, are handled (or at least where they are entered) every year or two, presumably as part of changes to improve the efficiency and accuracy of information entry. So – I am used to having to enter Form 1095-A info, and using workarounds to account for employer reimbursements, but this year I have encountered a new problem.
Here are the basics:
- Because I received a form 1095-A, it appears that I cannot file my return without including this information (in order to generate the expected Form 8962 Premium Tax Credit), or my return will be rejected by the IRS when I attempt to file it;
- I do not believe that I am eligible for ANY premium tax credit, so if TurboTax generates one with a credit greater than zero then my tax return will be incorrect, and I will have claimed a credit that I am not eligible for;
- I am a full-time employee;
- My employer reimburses me for 100% of the Marketplace health insurance premiums, and this reimbursement comes in two different pieces:
- Through a QSEHRA plan (up to the maximum reimbursement allowed through this plan); and
- The reminder is reimbursed through my paychecks (this is therefore effectively salary and is taxable).
In previous years, there was a relatively straightforward (i.e. as straightforward as anything is in TurboTax ….) way to enter the 1095-A info and then immediately enter the employer reimbursement so that they cancelled out. TurboTax has never before generated a Form 8962 with an inaccurate premium tax credit.
Here is the problem that I have encountered attempting to handle this issue in preparing my 2024 tax return. After I enter the amount of my premiums paid as noted in Form 1095-A column A, and the amount of the second lowest cost silver plan in column B, TurboTax asks if I have already adjusted column B for any reimbursements received, and if I select “No” then the program will not let me proceed (i.e. it forces me to go back and make the adjustment). HOWEVER, if I do reduce column B by the amount of my employer’s reimbursements to me (which were 100% of the premiums paid), then column B becomes zero, and TurboTax will not allow me to proceed with column B as zero.
I tried this workaround: I did NOT adjust Form 1095-A column B for my employer reimbursements, but entered the employer reimbursement amount in the Medical Expenses section under Deductions and Credits (which is a variation of the way that the reimbursement used to be handled in previous years). However, because I am using the Standard Deduction rather than itemizing, I believe that this reimbursement info was just discarded (i.e. not included in my tax return because I am not actually itemizing deductions), because when I used this method Form 8962 is still wrong.
So …. I cannot find any way to enter the Form 1095-A information and my employer reimbursement information according to the instructions in TurboTax, without the system either blocking me from proceeding (because column B is zero or because I have not accounted for reimbursements in column B) or generating an inaccurate premium tax credit that makes my return inaccurate. Help!
