My spouse was without health insurance before marrying me(when she was with tourist visa). Does she have to pay penalty?

[motamedi79]

My spouse was in US in year 2016 with a visitor/tourist visa with no health insurance (she was a non-resident). We got married in 10/2017 and she applied for greencard after marriage (becoming resident). We are filing tax jointly for the year 2017, after we got married she got health insurance through my company. My question is that: does she have to pay penalty for the month that she have been without health insurance when she was single?

[MaryK1]

No, because she was a nonresident alien before the marriage, she can qualify for the exemption and does not have to pay the penalty.

To enter in TurboTax:

In the HEALTH INSURANCE SECTION,

Did you all have health insurance coverage in 2017- Select I'll pick who had it which months.

Select the months each of you had health insurance in 2017--> enter months for both of you.

Do you have a situation that waives the tax penalty for being uninsured? Select No a Legal US resident

Which months you were not a legal US resident