My husband is a green card holder and entered the USA in May 2016; after open enrollment. He did not have health insurance until he got a job in November. How to file?

[TaxGuyBill]

If he received his Greencard in 2016 and May 2016 was the first time he lived in the US, he is exempt for the entire year because he is a "Dual Status Alien".  You can check follow the directions that Daniel gave you and check ALL of the months that he did not have insurance, even if he was in the US for those months.

In order to file with TurboTax, you may need manually file some elections.

Are you filing a Joint tax return?  Are you a US citizen?  If not, what type of Greencard or visa do you have, and EXACTLY when have you been in the US for the last 5 years?

[DanielV01 · Accepted solution]

It depends.  There are several exemptions that are possibly available.  The easiest is exception C, citizens living abroad and certain noncitizens.  If your husband was outside of the United States for 330 days of the previous 12 months (essentially 11 of the previous 12 months), he would qualify for this exemption.  Simply select this option (see the screenshots at the end on how to do this in TurboTax in the Health Insurance section).

If he doesn’t qualify for this deduction, however, there are other exceptions for which he could qualify.  The following IRS website has detailed information on this:  https://www.irs.gov/affordable-care-act/individuals-and-families/aca-individual-shared-responsibilit....  Please note that certain exemptions must be granted by the Marketplace before you file.

Hopefully, one of these exemptions fits your situation.  If not, you will be responsible for the penalty for all months up until November.