I had staterun marketplace health insurance plan from Jan-feb moved states and got a job that gave health insurance through work but i still have to pay tax credits back?

[colinbm1]

I had a state-run marketplace plan Jan-feb 2018 and at the time I was making less and finically eligible for obamacare. However, I moved states and got job that provided health care and increased my AGI to put me more that 401% above the poverty line for my state. It looks like I will have to pay back the tax credits even though i dont live in that state, have not been covered by the marketplace since i started making my current income. this seems unfair. is there anyway around this?

[Cindy0H]

Unfortunately, there is not a way around this. The healthcare tax credits are based on your income for the entire year. So if your income increases beyond what you predicted, the tax credits must be paid back. What state you live in doesn't really have anything to do with this. This is federal. Let's look at how this works:

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 2018 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 2018 income would be, along with how many people your plan needed to cover and where you lived.

Now that you’re reporting your actual 2018 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 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.

What’s the maximum I’ll have to pay back if I file as single?

If you’re a single filer and your 2018 income:

• Was less than $24,120 you won’t pay back more than $300
• Fell between $24,210 and $36,180 you won’t pay back more than $750
• Fell between $36,180 and $48,240, you won’t pay back more than $1,250
• Was more than $48,240, you will have to pay back all of any premium tax credit you received in advance

What’s the maximum we’ll have to pay back if we’re a family of four?

If you’re a family of four and your 2018 income...

• Was less than $49,200, you won’t pay back more than $600
• Fell between $49,200 and $73,800, you won’t pay back more than $1,500
• Fell between $73,800 and $98,400, you won’t pay back more than $2,500
• was more than $98,400, you will have to pay back all of any premium tax credit you received in advance

If you have more questions, add a comment below and I will be glad to help you.