I didn’t have health insurance the last two months of the year due to being laid off. Do I have to pay the penalty fee for not having health insurance for those months?

[IsabellaG · Accepted solution]

No, you would be exempt from the Individual Responsibility payment if you had a short gap in coverage (less than three months).

"In general, a gap in coverage that lasts less than three months qualifies as a short coverage gap. If you have more than one short coverage gap during a year, the short coverage gap exemption only applies to the first gap.If you have a coverage gap of 3 months or more, you are not exempt for any of those months."

See Questions 6 and 22 in this link from the IRS.