Is your Form 1095-A correct?

Published on April 17, 2015

If you enrolled in a plan through the Health Insurance Marketplace® for 2014, you should’ve received an important tax statement in the mail, called Form 1095-A. This statement has information you need to fill out your 2014 federal income tax return.

Most people received a correct Form 1095-A. However, if we contacted you because your Form 1095-A is incorrect, here’s one reason why. Some forms included the monthly premium amount of the second lowest cost Silver plan for 2015 instead of 2014. The incorrect amount is listed in Part III, Column B of the Form 1095-A. This doesn’t mean your tax credit was incorrect; this is purely an error in what was printed on the form.

If your form was affected by this issue, you should’ve received a call and email from us, and a message in your Marketplace account on HealthCare.gov. When log in, select your 2014 application, and then select “Tax forms.” You’ll see a message letting you know if your 1095-A form is being corrected and if your corrected form is available.

Even if your Form 1095-A was incorrect, you should file your 2014 Federal income taxes.

We encourage you to file your 2014 Federal income taxes either with the original, incorrect Form 1095-A or the correct Form 1095-A if it’s available. If you don’t have your correct form yet, you can find the correct amount of the second lowest cost Silver plan that applied to your household in 2014, by either:

Filing for an extension

You can also file for an extension of time to file your 2014 federal income tax return using IRS Form 4868 (PDF, 518 KB).

If you get your Form 1095-A, even if it’s not correct, we encourage you to file your taxes.

Note: If you file a Form 4868, you have extra time to file — but you still have to pay any tax you owe by April 15. After you get your correct Form 1095-A, you should file your tax return as soon as you can and attach Form 8962 using the information on the Form 1095-A. Important: If you file a Form 4868, you have an extended time to file, but not an extension to pay any tax you owe.

If Form 1095-A was issued to you in error

If the Marketplace notified you that the Form 1095-A you got was issued in error, and that you should ignore it, file your tax return without Form 8962.

Already filed your taxes using the incorrect Form 1095-A?

You don’t have to file an amended tax return if all of the following are true for you:

You enrolled in a 2014 Marketplace plan either through HealthCare.gov or through your state’s health insurance marketplace
You received an incorrect Form 1095-A
You filed your tax return based on the incorrect Form 1095-A

Note: This is true even if additional taxes would be owed based on the new information.

But if you filed with the incorrect Form 1095-A, you may benefit from filing an amended return. Filing an amended return may decrease the amount of taxes you owe or increase your refund. Comparing the two Form 1095-As can help you determine if you’re likely to benefit from filing an amended tax return.

For example, if the monthly premium for your second lowest cost Silver plan on the incorrect 1095-A you filed your taxes with lists a premium of $100 and the corrected form lists a premium of $200 (the premium on the incorrect form is lower than the premium on the correct form), you may benefit from amending.

Filing an amended return

You do have to file an amended return if:

The Marketplace notified you that the Form 1095-A was issued in error because you never completed enrollment. The premium tax credit is available only for people who enrolled in qualifying Marketplace coverage. If you never paid premiums for your coverage then you weren’t enrolled in coverage. If you filed and incorrectly claimed a premium tax credit based on these forms, and you don’t amend your return, the IRS may contact you about additional tax due.
The Form 1095-A was incorrectly issued for coverage that doesn’t qualify for the premium tax credit, like stand-alone dental plans and catastrophic plans. If you filed and incorrectly claimed a premium tax credit based on these forms, and you don’t amend your return, the IRS may contact you about additional tax due.
You filed without receiving Form 1095-A and didn’t reconcile the advance credit payments using Form 8962, Premium Tax Credit (PTC).

Note: You’ll use Form 1040-X (PDF, 141 KB) to amend your return.

Need help? For more information about how health coverage will affect your taxes, visit HealthCare.gov/taxes/.

Free tax help is available if you qualify through Free File or Volunteer Income Tax Assistance.