I'm in the process of transitioning jobs and will lose health insurance for about a week. If I go without, would this affect my federal or West Virginia tax refund?

[Anonymous]

While transitioning between jobs, I have recently found out that my current employer ends all benefits on the day of separation. They forced me to resign earlier than I anticipated, due to a holiday coming up and them not wanting to issue pay for that holiday. This is the first time I'm in this position, since all my previous employers continued coverage until the end of the month. I was told that I can get coverage under COBRA, but it's going to be extremely expensive. The health insurance provided by the new job will not start until a week later. While I understand that there are certain financial risks of not having health insurance for a week, I need to know whether not having health insurance for the week of transition would affect my Federal Refund under the ACA or another federal mandate. I also need to know if my current state of West Virginia has any tax-relevant health insurance mandates.

[DoninGA · Accepted solution]

There is no requirement to report health care coverage on a federal tax return unless you have insurance through one of the state Marketplace Exchanges or through healthcare.gov and receive a Form 1095-A.

There is no requirement to report health care coverage on a West Virginia state income tax return.

So your lapse in coverage is not an issue for either the federal or state tax return.