TurboTax PTC wrong — how to limit to 3 months with employer health insurance?

[ahumpal188]

Hi,

I only received Premium Tax Credit (PTC) for 3 months through Covered California for the health insurance. For the rest of the year, I had an offer of employer health insurance, so I was not eligible for subsidies.

When I enter my 1095-A in TurboTax, it calculates a large refund as if I were eligible for PTC all year.

How do I enter that I had employer health insurance available for part of the year so TurboTax limits the PTC to only those 3 months?

I don’t see anywhere to input employer coverage or mark months as ineligible. Please provide exact steps in TurboTax if possible.

Thanks!

[MaryK4]

Enter the premiums for those specific months in the 1095-A screen and leave the remaining months blank (do not enter zero). When asked if you had employer coverage, select "Yes" and indicate which months you had that option, which tells TurboTax to disqualify those months for subsidies.

1. Navigate to Federal Taxes > Deductions & Credits.
2. Under Medical, select Start/Update for Affordable Care Act (Form 1095-A).
3. Enter the information from your 1095-A for the 3 months you had coverage.
4. Leave the premiums, SLCSP, and PTC columns blank for the other 9 months. Do not enter zeros in those boxes.
5. Continue through the screens. TurboTax will ask if you had employer coverage available or special circumstances.
6. Indicate that you had employer-sponsored coverage for the remaining months.

TurboTax will use this input to calculate the 8962 form.

[ahumpal188]

Hi,

I bought TurboTax expert and had 2 separate phone calls with two separate tax experts about the situation and they told me to enter in my 1095-A as it was sent to me, so I listened to them and had them review it before I actually submitted my taxes. I don't know what to do now since my taxes are submitted and I'm getting conflicting advice.

[DaveF1006]

Leaving those nine months blank is the better choice, even if your 1095-A showed zeros. @MaryK4 gave the right advice because entering $0 tells the software you had Marketplace coverage with a zero-dollar plan.

TurboTax will try to calculate a Premium Tax Credit (PTC) for those months. Since it thinks you had coverage but paid nothing, it could mistakenly show a refund or trigger a “validation error,” since a $0 premium for a Marketplace plan usually isn’t possible.

Since your return is already submitted, do not try to change anything yet. You have to wait for the IRS to either accept or reject your return. 

[ahumpal188]

Hi,

The IRS accepted my taxes. Now what ? 

[DaveF1006]

You wait to see if the IRS contacts you further regarding this matter. I do think that by accepting your return, the IRS cleared your return of any "validation errors" that would hinder your return thus processed your return as normal.