Spouse has been out of the country for almost 3 years. He arrived 18 of November 2017 and got a job for last 3 weeks of 2017. Can he be exempt from health insurance fee?

[DanielV01 · Accepted solution]

Yes.  There is an exemption for someone who was out of the country for at least 330 days for the previous 12 months.  To enter this into TurboTax:

1. Login to your account and click Take me to my Return
2. Click on the Health Insurance tab.
3. When asked if everyone had health insurance, click no
4. When asked about the situation, click I'll choose who had it and when
5. Make sure all 12 months are selected for your husband.  Your next screen will examine exceptions to the penalty
6. Check box Out of the country 330 days of 12 months.  The screenshot below shows this in the blue rectangle.

For an additional explanation on this and other health care penalty exceptions, please see this link:  https://www.healthcare.gov/health-coverage-exemptions/

[fanfare]

I think the period from 18 Nov to the end of the year is more than 35 days. What do you think?

[abigailazu-6]

Yes, but he arrived on a spouse visa, so he wasn't even a resident yet. It took about 2-3weeks to get his greencard and SSN before he was even able to apply for jobs

[DanielV01]

Two things.  In counting the period, a part of a month counts as a whole month for the counting period.  But the big thing is that you are counting from Dec. 1 2016 to Nov. 30, 2017.   That is the 12 months for the test.  December will get exempted automatically because of the short gap provision as long as he obtains insurance within a two month period.

[fanfare]

OK, but on what basis is the counting from Dec 1 16 to Nov 30 17 ?

[abigailazu-6]

Idk, I'm not sure how this works, which is why I'm asking, but I was assuming he didn't have to due to him coming in as an immigrant still and not obtaining residency until December. So to be safe I'm asking, bc I didn't see why he would pay if he was barely even here for 2017.

[DanielV01]

The standard is 330 days within 12 months prior to establishing residency in U.S.  Had the spouse come in August, the 12 month period would have been September 1, 2016 to August 31, 2017.  The calculation is not based on the 2017 calendar year, but the 12-month period prior to the individual coming to the U.S.  If he was absent during all of that time prior to U.S. arrival, any qualifying months in 2017 included in that absence are exempted from the penalty.

He will not have to pay a penalty.  I have edited my answer to include a link with more information on this subject.