Got married and filing jointly now have to repay insurance premium credits of ACA

[Bruno]

My wife was unemployed and she was single at the beginning of 2016 and so elected to get health insurance through ACA. We got married in July and are filing jointly. Now she has to repay all the premium credits she received even for the period she was "single" and unemployed. Can we prorate the insurance premium repay based on the part of the year we were not married?

[TaxGuyBill · Accepted solution]

Sorry, no.

On the screen immediately after entering (or editing) the 1095-A in TurboTax, you should indicate you were married during the year.  In some cases that will reduce the repayment.  However, in many cases it will not.  Sorry.

You do have the option to file as Married Filing Separately.  Although that would disqualify the Premium Tax Credit, it could reduce her repayment based on her lower income.  You may want to 'test it out' both ways to see what gives the best overall refund.  I would recommend the CD/downloaded version to so that, so you can save multiple copies of your 'test' tax returns.

[Bruno]

I have already filled out everything on turbo tax online as Married filing Jointly, how can I simulate Married Filing Separately without loosing any data? Also I guess I would have to create a separate account for my wife? Please advise. Thanks.

[TaxGuyBill]

Yes, you would need to create TWO separate accounts (one for a your wife as Married Filing Separately, and one for yourself as Married Filing Separately.  That is why I recommended the CD/downloaded version.

[Amhaleem]

I am under 200% of the poverty level and TurboTax did not apply the repayment cap and it mentions I need to pay the full amount. Do you have any advice?