I need help! paid out of pocket for my wife's health insurance instead of marketplace. no taxable income. 100% disabled veteran.

[charles863]

I am a veteran rated at 100% disability and both of us were unemployed for the duration of 2021. The VA takes care of my health coverage but my wife was not approved for the VA coverage until August 2021.  We felt compelled to get her individual coverage to avoid being penalized by the government at the end of the year.

Unfortunately, due to my poor mental health status and our general lack of knowledge and understanding, we got individual health coverage for my wife instead of going to the marketplace.   I have recently learned that we should have gone to the official marketplace website instead because we could have avoided paying approximately 3K out of pocket for insurance premiums in 2021.  We didn’t know of this mistake until we got 1095-B and not the 1095-A that would be applicable to get the reimbursement.  Is there anything we can do?

[MinhT1]

For your information, there is no more Federal penalty for not having health care coverage since 2019. Only a few states have penalties for being uninsured (Massachusetts, New Jersey, California, Rhode Island, and the District of Columbia).

If you have paid for private health outside the Marketplace, you cannot get the premium tax credit. But you can claim the premiums that you paid as Medical expenses. However, for a large number of taxpayers, claiming medical expenses would bring no tax benefit for the following reason:

For tax year 2021, Medical Expenses which are claimed as an itemized deduction are subject to the 7.5% rule and you can only claim the excess over 7.5% of your Adjusted Gross Income.

Please note that Itemized Deductions will only "help" when they exceed your standard deduction.

For 2021, standard deductions are:

For a taxpayer under 65, not claimed as a dependent

• $12,550 for Single
• $25.100 for Married Filing Jointly, or Qualifying Widow(er) with dependent child
• $18,800 for Head of Ho0sehold
• $12,550 for Married Filing Separately
• If you are over 65 or blind, add $1,350 for each instance if married or add $1,700 each instance if single or head of household

[charles863]

Is there a reason for us to file taxes then? Can we get anything back if we didn't have any taxable income?

[JulieS]

No, you don't have to file a tax return this year. The only way you may get a refund from filing is if you did not receive your third round of stimulus payments last year.