The Affordable Care Act includes financial assistance in the form of the premium tax credit for eligible taxpayers with moderate incomes who purchase coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace.

When you purchased coverage for 2014 through the Marketplace, you may have chosen to have the government send advance payments of the premium tax credit to your insurer to lower your monthly insurance premiums. At that time, the Marketplace estimated these credits based on information you provided about your expected household income and family size for the year.

If you chose to have advance credit payments sent to your insurer, you must file a federal income tax return, even if otherwise not required to file. You will need to reconcile these payments with the amount of premium tax credit you’re eligible for on your tax return. Receiving too much or too little in advance can affect your refund or balance due when you file.

For example, if you had certain life changes during the year and notified the Marketplace, the Marketplace should have adjusted the amount of the advance credit payments sent to your insurer accordingly. If you did not notify the Marketplace about these life changes, the advance credit payments may have been either too high or too low.

Advance credit payments that are lower than the amount of premium tax credit on your tax return will reduce your tax bill or increase your refund.

On the other hand, if your advance credit payments are more than the premium tax credit you are eligible for based on your actual income, you will need to repay the excess amount, subject to certain caps. This will result in a smaller refund or a larger bill when you file your return. The repayment amount is based on your household income and family size. For more information on the repayment if your household income is less than 400 percent of the federal poverty line, the repayment amount is limited. Taxpayers with household incomes of 400 percent or more of the federal poverty line must repay all of the excess amount. See the instructions for Form 8962, Premium Tax Credit (PTC) for more information on the federal poverty line amounts.

Normally, taxpayers may owe certain penalties for late payments or underpayment of estimated tax. However, to help smooth the process for the first year of the Affordable Care Act, the IRS will waive these penalties for eligible taxpayers if they resulted from repayment of excess advance payments of the premium tax credit. This has no effect on the fee individuals will pay if they chose not to buy affordable health coverage.

You must complete Form 8962 to claim the premium tax credit and reconcile your advance credit payments with the premium tax credit you are eligible to claim on your return. You should receive Form 1095-A, Health Insurance Marketplace Statement from your Marketplace by early February. This form provides information you will need when completing Form 8962. If you have questions about the information on Form 1095-A for 2014, or about receiving Form 1095-A for 2014, you should contact your Marketplace directly.

Remember that filing electronically is the best and simplest way to file a complete and accurate tax return as it guides individuals and tax preparers through the process and does all the math. Electronic Filing options include free volunteer assistance, IRS Free File for taxpayers who qualify, commercial software, and professional assistance.

Children may help reduce the amount of taxes owed for the year. If you’re a parent, here are several tax benefits you should look for when you file your federal tax return:

• Dependents. In most cases, you can claim your child as a dependent. You can deduct $3,950 for each dependent you are entitled to claim. You must reduce this amount if your income is above certain limits. For more on these rules, see Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction and Filing Information.

• Child Tax Credit. You may be able to claim the Child Tax Credit for each of your qualifying children under the age of 17. The maximum credit is $1,000 per child. If you get less than the full amount of the credit, you may be eligible for the Additional Child Tax Credit. For more, see Schedule 8812 and Publication 972, both titled Child Tax Credit.

• Child and Dependent Care Credit. You may be able to claim this credit if you paid for the care of one or more qualifying persons. Dependent children under age 13 are among those who qualify. You must have paid for care so that you could work or could look for work. See Publication 503, Child and Dependent Care Expenses, for more on this credit.

• Earned Income Tax Credit. You may qualify for EITC if you worked but earned less than $52,427 last year. You can get up to $6,143 in EITC. You may qualify with or without children. Use the 2014 EITC Assistant tool at IRS.gov to find out if you qualify. See Publication 596, Earned Income Tax Credit, to learn more.

• Adoption Credit. You may be able to claim a tax credit for certain costs you paid to adopt a child. For details see Form 8839, Qualified Adoption Expenses.

• Education tax credits. An education credit can help you with the cost of higher education. There are two credits that are available. The American Opportunity Tax Credit and the Lifetime Learning Credit may reduce the amount of tax you owe. If the credit reduces your tax to less than zero, you may get a refund. Even if you don’t owe any taxes, you still may qualify. You must complete Form 8863, Education Credits, and file a return to claim these credits. Use the Interactive Tax Assistant tool on IRS.gov to see if you can claim them. Visit the IRS’s Education Credits Web page to learn more. Also see Publication 970, Tax Benefits for Education, for more on this topic.

• Student loan interest. You may be able to deduct interest you paid on a qualified student loan. You can claim this benefit even if you do not itemize your deductions. For more information, see Publication 970.

• Self-employed health insurance deduction. If you were self-employed and paid for health insurance, you may be able to deduct premiums you paid during the year. This may include the cost to cover your children under age 27, even if they are not your dependent. See Publication 535, Business Expenses, for details.

You can get related forms and publications on IRS.gov.

In most cases you get your W-2 forms by the end of January. Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, shows your income and the taxes withheld from your pay for the year. You need your W-2 form to file an accurate tax return.

If you haven’t received your form by mid-February, here’s what you should do:

• Contact your employer. Ask your employer (or former employer) for a copy. Be sure that they have your correct address.

• After Feb. 23. If you can’t get a copy from your employer, call the IRS at 800-829-1040 after Feb. 23. The IRS will send a letter to your employer on your behalf. You’ll need the following when you call:

o Your name, address, Social Security number and phone number;

o Your employer’s name, address and phone number;

o The dates you worked for the employer; and

o An estimate of your wages and federal income tax withheld in 2014. You can use your final pay stub for these amounts.

• File on time. Your tax return is normally due on or before April 15, 2015. Use Form 4852, Substitute for Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, if you don’t get your W-2 in time to file. Estimate your wages and taxes withheld as best as you can. The IRS may need more time to process your return while it verifies your information. If you can’t finish your tax return by the due date, you can ask for more time to file. Get an extra six months by filing Form 4868, Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return. You can also e-file a request for more time. You can do this for free with IRS Free File.

• Correct if necessary. You may need to correct your tax return if you get your missing W-2 after you file. If the tax information on the W-2 is different from what you originally reported, you may need to file an amended tax return. Use Form 1040X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return to make the change.

Note: Important New Health Insurance Form. If you bought health insurance through the Health Insurance Marketplace, you should have received a Form 1095-A, Health Insurance Marketplace Statement, by early February. You will need the new form to help you complete an accurate federal tax return. You will use the information from the Form 1095-A to calculate the amount of your premium tax credit. The form is also used to reconcile advance payments of the premium tax credit made on your behalf with the amount of premium tax credit that you are eligible to claim.

If you did not receive your Form 1095-A, you should contact the Marketplace from which you received coverage to get a copy. You are not required to send in proof of health care coverage, including Form 1095-A, to the IRS when filing your tax return. However, it’s a good idea to keep these records on hand to verify coverage.

Additional information about the Form 1095-A is available on IRS.gov/aca and on HealthCare.gov/taxes.

If you get tips on the job, you should know some things about tips and taxes. Here are a few tips from the IRS to help you file and report your tip income correctly:

•  Show all tips on your return. You must report all tips you receive on your federal tax return. This includes the value of tips that are not in cash. Examples include items such as tickets, passes or other items.
•  All tips are taxable. You must pay tax on all tips you received during the year. This includes tips directly from customers and tips added to credit cards. It also includes your share of tips received under a tip-splitting agreement with other employees.
• Report tips to your employer. If you receive $20 or more in tips in any one month, you must report your tips for that month to your employer. You should only include cash, check and credit card tips you received. Do not report the value of any noncash tips on this report. Your employer must withhold federal income, Social Security and Medicare taxes on the reported tips.
• Keep a daily log of tips. Use Publication 1244, Employee’s Daily Record of Tips and Report to Employer, to record your tips. This will help you report the correct amount of tips on your tax return.

For more on this topic, see Publication 531, Reporting Tip Income. You can get it on IRS.gov.

Many people pay to have their taxes prepared. You need to be careful when you pick a preparer to do your taxes. You are legally responsible for all the information on the tax return even if someone else prepares it. Here are 10 IRS tax tips to help you choose a tax preparer:

1. Check the preparer’s qualifications. All paid tax preparers are required to have a Preparer Tax Identification Number or PTIN. The IRS will soon offer a new Directory of Federal Tax Return Preparers with Credentials and Select Qualifications on IRS.gov. You will be able to use this tool to help you find a tax return preparer with the qualifications that you prefer. The Directory will be a searchable and sortable listing of certain preparers with a valid PTIN for 2015. It will include the name, city, state and zip code of:

• Attorneys.
• CPAs.
• Enrolled Agents.
• Enrolled Retirement Plan Agents.
• Enrolled Actuaries.
• Annual Filing Season Program participants.

2. Check the preparer’s history. You can check with the Better Business Bureau to find out if a preparer has a questionable history. Check for disciplinary actions and the license status for credentialed preparers. For CPAs, check with the State Board of Accountancy. For attorneys, check with the State Bar Association. For Enrolled Agents, go to IRS.gov and search for “verify enrolled agent status.”

3. Ask about service fees. Avoid preparers who base their fee on a percentage of your refund or those who say they can get larger refunds than others can. Always make sure any refund due is sent to you or deposited into your bank account. You should not have your refund deposited into a preparer’s bank account.

4. Ask to e-file your return. Make sure your preparer offers IRS e-file. Any paid preparer who prepares and files more than 10 returns generally must e-file their clients’ returns. The IRS has safely processed more than 1.3 billion e-filed tax returns.

5. Make sure the preparer is available. You need to ensure that you can contact the tax preparer after you file your return. That’s true even after the April 15 due date. You may need to contact the preparer if questions come up about your tax return at a later time.

6. Provide tax records. A good preparer will ask to see your records and receipts. They ask you questions to report your total income and the tax benefits you’re entitled to claim. These may include tax deductions, tax credits and other items. Do not use a preparer who is willing to e-file your return using your last pay stub instead of your Form W-2. This is against IRS e-file rules.

7. Never sign a blank tax return. Do not use a tax preparer who asks you to sign a blank tax form.

8. Review your return before signing. Before you sign your tax return, review it thoroughly. Ask questions if something is not clear to you. Make sure you’re comfortable with the information on the return before you sign it.

9. Preparer must sign and include their PTIN. Paid preparers must sign returns and include their PTIN as required by law. The preparer must also give you a copy of the return.

10. Report abusive tax preparers to the IRS. You can report abusive tax preparers and suspected tax fraud to the IRS. Use Form 14157, Complaint: Tax Return Preparer. If you suspect a return preparer filed or changed the return without your consent, you should also file Form 14157-A, Return Preparer Fraud or Misconduct Affidavit. You can download and print these forms on IRS.gov. If you need a paper form by mail go to IRS.gov/orderforms to place an order.

When filing your 2014 federal income tax return, you will see some changes related to the Affordable Care Act. Millions of people who purchased their coverage through a health insurance Marketplace are eligible for premium assistance through the new premium tax credit, which individuals chose to either have paid upfront to their insurers to lower their monthly premiums, or receive when they file their taxes. When you bought your insurance, if you chose to have advance payments of the premium tax credit, the Marketplace estimated the amount based on information you provided about your expected household income and family size for the year.

If you received the benefit of advance credit payments, you must file a federal tax return and reconcile the advance credit payments with the actual premium tax credit you are eligible to claim on your return. You will use IRS Form 8962, Premium Tax Credit (PTC) to make this comparison and to claim the credit. If your advance credit payments are in excess of the amount of the premium tax credit you are eligible for, based on your actual income, you must repay some or all of the excess when you file your return, subject to certain caps.
If you purchased your coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace, you should receive Form 1095-A, Health Insurance Marketplace Statement from your Marketplace. You should receive this form by early February.

Form 1095-A will provide the information you need to file your taxes, including the name of your insurance company, dates of coverage, amount of monthly insurance premiums for the plan you and other members of your family enrolled in, amount of any advance payments of the premium tax credit for the year, and other information needed need to compute the premium tax credit.

Using tax preparation software is the best and simplest way to file a complete and accurate tax return as it guides individuals and tax preparers through the process and does all the math. Electronic filing options include IRS Free File for taxpayers who qualify, free volunteer assistance, commercial software, and professional assistance.
For more information about the Affordable Care Act and filing your 2014 income tax return, visit IRS.gov/aca.

Nearly everyone can claim an exemption on their tax return. It usually lowers your taxable income. In most cases, that reduces the amount of tax you owe for the year. Here are the top 10 tax facts about exemptions to help you file your tax return.

1. E-file your tax return. Filing electronically is the easiest way to file a complete and accurate tax return. The software that you use to e-file will help you determine the number of exemptions that you can claim. E-file options include free Volunteer Assistance, IRS Free File, commercial software and professional assistance.

2. Exemptions cut income. There are two types of exemptions. The first type is a personal exemption. The second type is an exemption for a dependent. You can usually deduct $3,950 for each exemption you claim on your 2014 tax return.

3. Personal exemptions. You can usually claim an exemption for yourself. If you’re married and file a joint return, you can claim one for your spouse, too. If you file a separate return, you can claim an exemption for your spouse only if your spouse:

• had no gross income,

• is not filing a tax return, and

• was not the dependent of another taxpayer.

4. Exemptions for dependents. You can usually claim an exemption for each of your dependents. A dependent is either your child or a relative who meets a set of tests. You can’t claim your spouse as a dependent. You must list the Social Security number of each dependent you claim on your tax return. For more on these rules, see IRS Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information. You can get Publication 501 on IRS.gov. Just click on the “Forms & Pubs” tab on the home page.

5. Report health care coverage. The health care law requires you to report certain health insurance information for you and your family. The individual shared responsibility provision requires you and each member of your family to either:

• Have qualifying health insurance, called minimum essential coverage, or

• Have an exemption from this coverage requirement, or

• Make a shared responsibility payment when you file your 2014 tax return.

Visit IRS.gov/ACA for more on these rules.

6. Some people don’t qualify. You normally may not claim married persons as dependents if they file a joint return with their spouse. There are some exceptions to this rule.

7. Dependents may have to file. A person who you can claim as your dependent may have to file their own tax return. This depends on certain factors, like the amount of their income, whether they are married and if they owe certain taxes.

8. No exemption on dependent’s return. If you can claim a person as a dependent, that person can’t claim a personal exemption on his or her own tax return. This is true even if you don’t actually claim that person on your tax return. This rule applies because you can claim that person is your dependent.

9. Exemption phase-out. The $3,950 per exemption is subject to income limits. This rule may reduce or eliminate the amount you can claim based on the amount of your income. See Publication 501 for details.

10. Try the IRS online tool. Use the Interactive Tax Assistant tool on IRS.gov to see if a person qualifies as your dependent.

It’s always a good idea to prepare early to file your federal income tax return.  Certain provisions of the Affordable Care Act – also known as the Health Care Law – will probably affect your federal income tax return when you file this year.

You or your tax professional should consider preparing and filing your tax return electronically.  Using tax preparation software is the easiest way to file a complete and accurate tax return. There are a variety of electronic filing options, including free volunteer assistance, IRS Free File for taxpayers who qualify,commercial software, and professional assistance.

Here are five things you should know about the health care law that will help you get ready to file your tax return.

Coverage requirements

The Affordable Care Act requires that you and each member of your family havequalifying health insurance coverage for each month of the year, qualify for an exemption from the coverage requirement, or make an individual shared responsibility payment when filing your federal income tax return.

Reporting requirements

Most taxpayers will simply check a box on their tax return to indicate that each member of their family had qualifying health coverage for the whole year. No further action is required. Qualifying health insurance coverage includes coverage under most, but not all, types of health care coverage plans. Use the chart on IRS.gov/aca to find out if your insurance counts as qualifying coverage.

For a limited group of taxpayers -those who qualify for, or received advance payments of the premium tax credit – the health care law could affect the amount of tax refund or the amount of money they may owe when they file in 2015. Visit IRS.gov/aca to learn more about the premium tax credit.

Exemptions

You may be eligible to claim an exemption from the requirement to have coverage.  If you qualify for an exemption, you will need to complete the new IRS Form 8965, Health Coverage Exemptions, when you file your tax return.   You must apply for some exemptions through the Health Care Insurance Marketplace.  However, most of the exemptions are easily obtained from the IRS when you file your tax return. Some of the exemptions are available from either the Marketplace or the IRS.

If you receive an exemption through the Marketplace, you’ll receive an Exemption Certificate Number to include when you file your taxes. If you have applied for an exemption through the Marketplace and are still waiting for a response, you can put “pending” on your tax return where you would normally put your Exemption Certificate Number.

Individual Shared Responsibility Payment

If you do not have qualifying coverage or an exemption for each month of the year, you will need to make an individual shared responsibility payment when you file your return for choosing not to purchase coverage. Examples and information about figuring the payment are available on the IRS Calculating the Payment page.

Premium Tax Credits

If you bought coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace, you should receive Form 1095-A, Health Insurance Marketplace Statement from your Marketplace by early February. Save this form because it has important information needed to complete your tax return.

If you are expecting to receive Form 1095-A and you do not receive it by early February, contact the Marketplace where you purchased coverage.  Do not contact the IRS because IRS telephone assistors will not have access to this information.

If you benefited from advance payments of the premium tax credit, you must file a federal income tax return. You will need to reconcile those advance payments with the amount of premium tax credit you’re entitled to based on your actual income. As a result, some people may see a smaller or larger tax refund or tax liability than they were expecting.  When you file your return, you will use IRSForm 8962, Premium Tax Credit (PTC), to calculate your premium tax credit and reconcile the credit with any advance payments.

Health insurance and income taxes, once an unlikely pair, are now close companions as a result of the Affordable Care Act’s insurance mandate that took effect Jan. 1, 2014.

If you have health insurance through the federal or a state-sponsored marketplace, it means a couple of important yet simple changes on your next income tax return.

First, you’ll receive a new tax form from your marketplace around Jan. 31, 2015. Form 1095-A, Health Insurance Marketplace Statement, will include the information you need to report on your federal tax return in order to prove you have health insurance.

Form 1095-A will also include information you need for the premium tax credit, a tax benefit to help pay for marketplace insurance. The credit amount is based on household size and income. In general, the lower your income, the higher your credit amount.

In order to qualify for the premium credit:

You must be ineligible for government programs like Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP.
You cannot have employer-sponsored insurance, or the lowest-priced, self-covered plan meeting minimum essential requirements offered by your employer costs more than 9.5 percent of your annual household income.
Your annual household income is 100 percent to 400 percent of the federal poverty level. For the 2014 credit, that’s $11,490 to $45,960 for an individual. (Hawaii and Alaska residents are subject to different amounts.)
You cannot be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s tax return.
Your filing status generally cannot be married filing separately.
The credit can be received in advance in order to reduce the cost of your monthly premiums, or you can wait to claim it on your tax return to reduce your amount owed or increase your refund.

If your income or family size is different than what you estimated when you applied for marketplace insurance, your taxes may be impacted. If your actual income was less than estimated, you may qualify for a higher credit amount and therefore receive a larger refund. On the other hand, if your actual income was more than the estimated amount, you may need to pay some of the credit back at tax time.

DIY tax solutions make reporting marketplace insurance and the premium credit a simple matter.

“You can still easily prepare and file your own taxes,” says Jessi Dolmage, spokesperson for TaxACT. “Just enter Form 1095-A information when the program asks and answer some simple questions. The program will complete the calculations and tax forms to help you get every dollar you deserve.”

If you plan to enroll in marketplace insurance during the next enrollment period, Nov. 15, 2014, through Feb. 15, 2015, Dolmage recommends calculating your taxes beforehand. “You’ll need to enter some tax information on your marketplace application. TaxACT makes that easy. Complete the easy interview and the program will generate a HealthWatch report with all the tax information you need to apply for insurance and the premium credit.”

Dolmage also reminds uninsured individuals planning to claim an exemption to visit healthcare.gov/exemptions to check if your situation requires an exemption certificate number (ECN). If so, mail the paper application and supporting documentation to your marketplace now because it can take weeks to process. After your application is accepted, you’ll receive an ECN to report on your tax return in order to avoid the individual shared responsibility payment.