After entering form 109-a, I suddenly owe money.

[DawnC]

Do you mean a 1095-A?  If so, read on.  If not, please clarify.  

The premium tax credit was available immediately when you enrolled in a plan through the Marketplace. It worked like a discount so you could get help paying for coverage throughout the year rather than having to wait until you filed your 2019 taxes. Payments of the premium tax credit went directly to the insurance company to pay a share of the monthly health insurance premiums charged to you. The amount was calculated based on what you estimated your 2019 income would be, along with how many people your plan needed to cover and where you lived.

Now that you're reporting your actual 2019 income, ZIP code, and family size, we used this info to calculate the discount you should've received throughout the year and made the necessary adjustment. You may get more of a credit (this happens if you made less money than you estimated when you applied) or have to pay some of it back (this happens if you made more money than you estimated when you applied), but there are limits on how much you have to pay back.

[ProfessorSenn]

That's good news when you say "there are limits on how much you have to pay back"!

Yay!

Q: What exactly do you mean when you say "there are limits on how much you have to pay back"?

[KurtL1]

On FORM 8962, line 4 is the Federal Poverty Level based on our family size. Line 5 is what the percentage your Household Income is of the Poverty Level on line 4.

The total amount you are required to repay is on line 27 of Form 8962.

This is the amount that can be limited by what is entered on line 28.

Based on the percentage on line 5 the limitation is shown below.

• If line 5 is less than 200 the limitation for the filing status of Single is $300.
• If line 5 is less than 200 the limitation for the other filing statuses is $600.
• If line 5 is at least 200 but less than 300 the limitation for the filing status of Single is $800.
• If line 5 is at least 200 but less than 300 the limitation for the other filing statuses is $1,600.
• If line 5 is at least 300 but less than 400 the limitation for the filing status of Single is $1,325.
• If line 5 is at least 300 but less than 400 the limitation for the other filing statuses is $2,650.
• If line 5 is 400 or 401 the limitation for the filing status of Single is $0.
• If line 5 is 400 or 401 the limitation for the other filing statuses is $0