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Premium tax credit

January 01, 1970

The premium tax credit (PTC) is a mechanism established by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) through which the United States federal government partially subsidizes the cost of private health insurance for certain lower- and middle-income individuals and families. The PTC is a refundable tax credit, and may be applied directly to the cost of insurance premiums.

The PTC is one of a host of ACA tax provisions and was first made available in 2014; it aims to make insurance affordable for lower- and middle-income U.S. residents who do not receive insurance through their employer and whose household income is too high to qualify for Medicaid.[1][2] The PTC is only available to those who purchase insurance through the ACA-established health exchanges and meet the law's household income eligibility requirements. Under the ACA, only those households earning between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty level (FPL) are eligible to receive the PTC; however, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 temporarily extended PTC eligibility to anyone making more than 100% of the FPL, and the Inflation Reduction Act extended that eligibility expansion through 2025. In 2023, more than 14 million people received the premium tax credit.[3]

History edit

The eligibility criteria for the premium tax credit is determined by section 1401 of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). The Act was signed into law on March 23, 2010, and specified that the credits are only available to individuals and families who have enrolled in a health plan offered on a healthcare exchange. On May 23, 2012, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) adopted a regulation that said tax credits would be made available to eligible individuals who enroll in a health plan through either a state or a federally-facilitated exchange. The IRS based this on their interpretation of Section 1401.

On June 11, 2012 the IRS published Internal Revenue Bulletin: 2012-24 which obtains the final regulations that amend the Income Tax Regulations (26 CFR part 1) under section 36B relating to the PTC.

In November 2014 the IRS commissioner, John Koskinen, spoke at an AICPA conference. He said the IRS requested $430 million from the United States Congress to implement provisions required by the ACA. The IRS did not receive any money for this purpose and is now operating on a budget 7% lower than its 2010 budget. He mentioned two major provisions of this Act, the Premium tax credit and the individual shared responsibility payment as two new items that have to be implemented on 1040 tax forms.[4]

Legal challenge edit

Main article: King v. Burwell

Under the provisions of the ACA, separate health exchanges operate for residents of each state and for the District of Columbia; only those people who purchase insurance through the exchanges are eligible for premium tax credits. The drafters of the legislation envisioned that the exchanges would be operated by the state governments, but included a fallback provision for federally-run exchanges in states that did not establish exchanges on their own. In the event, however, most of the exchanges are not run by the states; as of 2023, 30 are operated by the federal government.

Due to the complex legislative history of the ACA, the final text of the ACA was ambiguous on certain points, and could be read to imply that only those who bought insurance through an exchange run by a state government would qualify for premium tax credits. This ambiguity was the subject of a number of lawsuits that were part of a broader campaign of legal challenges against the ACA. Had the challenges regarding the premium tax credits succeeded, the subsidy that was one of the key provisions of the ACA would've been unavailable to most people who the framers of the law intended to receive it. The suits on this topic were ultimately consolidated in King v. Burwell, in which the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in 2015 that the tax credits were clearly integral to the law's functioning, and that "the pertinent statutory phrase" ought to be interpreted in a manner "that is compatible with the rest of the law." This ruling ensured that anyone purchasing insurance from any of the exchanges would be potentially eligible for premium tax credits.[5]

PTC eligibility and calculation edit

The calculation of the PTC is a complex process that takes a number of factors into account. In general, the system of individual insurance plans purchased through exchanges created by the ACA was intended to supplement rather than replace the United States' primarily employment-based insurance system, and those who can receive insurance from their or a family member's employer are not eligible for the PTC, unless the employee's share of the premium is more than 8.39% of their household income.[6]

Under the original text of the ACA, only those households whose income[7] is between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty level are eligible to receive the PTC. The FPL varies based on household size[8] and is adjusted annually for inflation; in 2023, the FPL for a one-person household was $14,850 and for a four-person household was $30,000 in the contiguous 48 states (a somewhat higher measure is used in Alaska and Hawaii).[9] As noted above, however, PTC eligiblity has been temporarily extended to all households making more than 100% of the FPL through 2025. (The framers of the ACA intended those making less than 100% of the FPL to be covered by Medicaid; but not all states used the provisions of the ACA to expand their Medicaid programs as anticipated, giving rise to a Medicaid coverage gap whereby some households have incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid but not high enough to receive subsidies via the PTC.)

An eligible individual or household purchasing insurance through a health exchange can receive the PTC if the cost of a "silver" insurance plan, defined by the ACA as a plan whose premiums cover 70% of the insured's health care costs, would exceed a set percentage of their income; under the original text of the ACA, this income percentage ranged from 2% for those making 100% of the FPL to 9.6% for those making 400%. The PTC subsidizes the difference between the cost of the plan and the law's assessment of a household's ability to pay; because the cost of insurance can vary widely depending on the age and home address of the insured, the PTC can also vary depending on those factors, even for two families of the same size and income.

Because insurance plans for many households, especially those with older members, cost more than 9.6% of 400% of the poverty level, the ACA's original provisions for the PTC created a benefits cliff, whereby a household that saw an income boost that put them over the 400% line could see a big jump in the cost of their health insurance, turning that income increase into an effective decrease in their take-home income. The provisions of the American Rescue Plan and Inflation Reduction Act temporarily eliminated this cliff by doing away with the 400% limit on PTC eligibility, and also reduced the maximum percentage of income that anyone receiving the PTC would pay for a silver plan from 9.6% to 8.5%.[10]

PTC calculation algorithm edit

To calculate the PTC, the following steps are generally followed:

  1. Determine the applicable percentage: The applicable percentage is based on the individual or family's household income as a percentage of the federal poverty level for their family size. This percentage is used to cap the amount of income individuals and families are expected to contribute toward their health insurance premiums.
  2. Determine the premium benchmark: The premium benchmark is the second-lowest-cost silver plan premium available in the individual or family's area through their local health exchange. This benchmark is used as a reference point for calculating the PTC.
  3. Calculate the maximum PTC: The maximum PTC is determined by subtracting the expected contribution, based on the applicable percentage of income, from the premium benchmark. This represents the maximum subsidy the individual or family can receive.
  4. Calculate the actual PTC: The actual PTC is the lesser of the maximum PTC calculated in the previous step or the actual premium paid by the individual or family for the qualified health plan.

The PTC is then claimed on the individual or family's federal income tax return, and may reduce the amount of tax owed or increase the amount of the tax refund. Calculation is subject to specific rules and regulations set by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).[11]

An estimate of the credit may also be applied in advance to insurance premiums as they're paid. However, the precise amount of a household's PTC can only be calculated based on the full year's income, and the difference between the estimated and actual credit is taken into account on the household's tax return. In the 2015 tax year, 1.6 million taxpayers overestimated the amount they were supposed to receive for the advance tax premium; the average amount owed was $800.[12]

IRS forms edit

The IRS introduced several new forms connected with the Premium tax credit (PTC):

  • Form 8962, the Premium Tax Credit (PTC) must be filed with a 1040 income tax return by individuals who already received advance subsidies through a healthcare exchange. The form was released by the IRS on November 17, 2014, without accompanying instructions.[13]
  • Form 8965, Health Coverage Exemptions[14][15]
  • Three forms: 1095-A, 1095-B, 1095-C will be issued, respectively, by a health exchange, insurance company or an employer to taxpayers. The taxpayer will rely on these forms for proof satisfying the individual mandate.[16] For the tax year 2014 only Form 1095-A provided by a health insurance exchange is required by the IRS.[17]

References edit

  1. ^ "Colorado health-insurance buyers may get smaller tax credits in 2015 – The Denver Post". 27 October 2014. Retrieved 2016-09-02.
  2. ^ "Colorado health exchange users may pay much more for insurance next year - Denver Business Journal". Retrieved 2016-09-02.
  3. ^ https://www.kff.org/health-reform/state-indicator/average-monthly-advance-premium-tax-credit-aptc/?currentTimeframe=0&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D
  4. ^ Ebeling, Ashlea. "IRS Commissioner Predicts Miserable 2015 Tax Filing Season". Forbes. Retrieved 2016-09-02.
  5. ^ Abbe R. Gluck, The Supreme Court, 2014 Term — Comment: Imperfect Statutes, Imperfect Courts: Understanding Congress's Plan in the Era of Unorthodox Lawmaking, 129 HARV. L. REV. 62 (2015).
  6. ^ "Employer-Sponsored Coverage and Premium Tax Credit Eligibility". 30 August 2023.
  7. ^ Income for the purpose of determining the eligibility for, and the amount of the PTC, is adjusted gross income (AGI) modified by adding non-taxable items, such as tax-free interest, non-taxable social security benefits and tax-free foreign earned income. See LISAK, BARRY. "New Premium Tax Credit for 2014". Retrieved 2016-09-02. The household income is the total of the modified AGI for all individuals in the household except those who are not required to file an income tax return.
  8. ^ Internal Revenue Bulletin: 2012-24, published June 11, 2012, defines a taxpayer's family as the individuals for whom a taxpayer claims a deduction for a personal exemption under section 151 for the taxable year, which may include the taxpayer, the taxpayer's spouse, and dependents. Individuals planning to use the filing status Married Filing Separately (MFS) are not eligible for the PTC. See "Frequently Asked Questions". Beyond the Basics. 8 October 2013. Retrieved 2016-09-02.
  9. ^ "Federal Poverty Level (FPL) - Glossary".
  10. ^ "Five Things to Know about the Renewal of Extra Affordable Care Act Subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act". 11 August 2022.
  11. ^ "The Premium Tax Credit - The Basics | Internal Revenue Service". www.irs.gov. Retrieved 2023-06-08.
  12. ^ "Extenders to drive week — Get ready for Microsoft vs. IRS showdown — IRS expands tax evasion crackdown to Singapore". POLITICO. 20 July 2015. Retrieved 2016-09-02.
  13. ^ "IRS Releases Form for Individuals Claiming the Premium Tax Credit". www.bna.com. Retrieved 2016-09-02.
  14. ^ "Form 8965, Health Coverage Exemptions and Instructions - Obamacare Facts". Retrieved 2016-09-02.
  15. ^ (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-11-30. Retrieved 2016-11-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  16. ^ Speculations, Great. "Obamacare Ushers In Pile Of New 2014 Tax Forms". Forbes. Retrieved 2016-09-02.
  17. ^ Greene-Lewis, Lisa; Cpa, Cpa; Manager, the TurboTax Blog (2014-12-10). "How Health Care Reform Will Affect Your 2014 Taxes (The Ones You File On April 15, 2015)". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2016-09-02.

External links edit

January 01, 1970
premium, credit, premium, credit, mechanism, established, affordable, care, through, which, united, states, federal, government, partially, subsidizes, cost, private, health, insurance, certain, lower, middle, income, individuals, families, refundable, credit,. The premium tax credit PTC is a mechanism established by the Affordable Care Act ACA through which the United States federal government partially subsidizes the cost of private health insurance for certain lower and middle income individuals and families The PTC is a refundable tax credit and may be applied directly to the cost of insurance premiums The PTC is one of a host of ACA tax provisions and was first made available in 2014 it aims to make insurance affordable for lower and middle income U S residents who do not receive insurance through their employer and whose household income is too high to qualify for Medicaid 1 2 The PTC is only available to those who purchase insurance through the ACA established health exchanges and meet the law s household income eligibility requirements Under the ACA only those households earning between 100 and 400 of the federal poverty level FPL are eligible to receive the PTC however the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 temporarily extended PTC eligibility to anyone making more than 100 of the FPL and the Inflation Reduction Act extended that eligibility expansion through 2025 In 2023 more than 14 million people received the premium tax credit 3 Contents 1 History 1 1 Legal challenge 2 PTC eligibility and calculation 2 1 PTC calculation algorithm 3 IRS forms 4 References 5 External linksHistory editThe eligibility criteria for the premium tax credit is determined by section 1401 of the Affordable Care Act Obamacare The Act was signed into law on March 23 2010 and specified that the credits are only available to individuals and families who have enrolled in a health plan offered on a healthcare exchange On May 23 2012 the Internal Revenue Service IRS adopted a regulation that said tax credits would be made available to eligible individuals who enroll in a health plan through either a state or a federally facilitated exchange The IRS based this on their interpretation of Section 1401 On June 11 2012 the IRS published Internal Revenue Bulletin 2012 24 which obtains the final regulations that amend the Income Tax Regulations 26 CFR part 1 under section 36B relating to the PTC In November 2014 the IRS commissioner John Koskinen spoke at an AICPA conference He said the IRS requested 430 million from the United States Congress to implement provisions required by the ACA The IRS did not receive any money for this purpose and is now operating on a budget 7 lower than its 2010 budget He mentioned two major provisions of this Act the Premium tax credit and the individual shared responsibility payment as two new items that have to be implemented on 1040 tax forms 4 Legal challenge edit Main article King v Burwell Under the provisions of the ACA separate health exchanges operate for residents of each state and for the District of Columbia only those people who purchase insurance through the exchanges are eligible for premium tax credits The drafters of the legislation envisioned that the exchanges would be operated by the state governments but included a fallback provision for federally run exchanges in states that did not establish exchanges on their own In the event however most of the exchanges are not run by the states as of 2023 update 30 are operated by the federal government Due to the complex legislative history of the ACA the final text of the ACA was ambiguous on certain points and could be read to imply that only those who bought insurance through an exchange run by a state government would qualify for premium tax credits This ambiguity was the subject of a number of lawsuits that were part of a broader campaign of legal challenges against the ACA Had the challenges regarding the premium tax credits succeeded the subsidy that was one of the key provisions of the ACA would ve been unavailable to most people who the framers of the law intended to receive it The suits on this topic were ultimately consolidated in King v Burwell in which the Supreme Court ruled 6 3 in 2015 that the tax credits were clearly integral to the law s functioning and that the pertinent statutory phrase ought to be interpreted in a manner that is compatible with the rest of the law This ruling ensured that anyone purchasing insurance from any of the exchanges would be potentially eligible for premium tax credits 5 PTC eligibility and calculation editThe calculation of the PTC is a complex process that takes a number of factors into account In general the system of individual insurance plans purchased through exchanges created by the ACA was intended to supplement rather than replace the United States primarily employment based insurance system and those who can receive insurance from their or a family member s employer are not eligible for the PTC unless the employee s share of the premium is more than 8 39 of their household income 6 Under the original text of the ACA only those households whose income 7 is between 100 and 400 of the federal poverty level are eligible to receive the PTC The FPL varies based on household size 8 and is adjusted annually for inflation in 2023 the FPL for a one person household was 14 850 and for a four person household was 30 000 in the contiguous 48 states a somewhat higher measure is used in Alaska and Hawaii 9 As noted above however PTC eligiblity has been temporarily extended to all households making more than 100 of the FPL through 2025 The framers of the ACA intended those making less than 100 of the FPL to be covered by Medicaid but not all states used the provisions of the ACA to expand their Medicaid programs as anticipated giving rise to a Medicaid coverage gap whereby some households have incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid but not high enough to receive subsidies via the PTC An eligible individual or household purchasing insurance through a health exchange can receive the PTC if the cost of a silver insurance plan defined by the ACA as a plan whose premiums cover 70 of the insured s health care costs would exceed a set percentage of their income under the original text of the ACA this income percentage ranged from 2 for those making 100 of the FPL to 9 6 for those making 400 The PTC subsidizes the difference between the cost of the plan and the law s assessment of a household s ability to pay because the cost of insurance can vary widely depending on the age and home address of the insured the PTC can also vary depending on those factors even for two families of the same size and income Because insurance plans for many households especially those with older members cost more than 9 6 of 400 of the poverty level the ACA s original provisions for the PTC created a benefits cliff whereby a household that saw an income boost that put them over the 400 line could see a big jump in the cost of their health insurance turning that income increase into an effective decrease in their take home income The provisions of the American Rescue Plan and Inflation Reduction Act temporarily eliminated this cliff by doing away with the 400 limit on PTC eligibility and also reduced the maximum percentage of income that anyone receiving the PTC would pay for a silver plan from 9 6 to 8 5 10 PTC calculation algorithm edit To calculate the PTC the following steps are generally followed Determine the applicable percentage The applicable percentage is based on the individual or family s household income as a percentage of the federal poverty level for their family size This percentage is used to cap the amount of income individuals and families are expected to contribute toward their health insurance premiums Determine the premium benchmark The premium benchmark is the second lowest cost silver plan premium available in the individual or family s area through their local health exchange This benchmark is used as a reference point for calculating the PTC Calculate the maximum PTC The maximum PTC is determined by subtracting the expected contribution based on the applicable percentage of income from the premium benchmark This represents the maximum subsidy the individual or family can receive Calculate the actual PTC The actual PTC is the lesser of the maximum PTC calculated in the previous step or the actual premium paid by the individual or family for the qualified health plan The PTC is then claimed on the individual or family s federal income tax return and may reduce the amount of tax owed or increase the amount of the tax refund Calculation is subject to specific rules and regulations set by the Internal Revenue Service IRS 11 An estimate of the credit may also be applied in advance to insurance premiums as they re paid However the precise amount of a household s PTC can only be calculated based on the full year s income and the difference between the estimated and actual credit is taken into account on the household s tax return In the 2015 tax year 1 6 million taxpayers overestimated the amount they were supposed to receive for the advance tax premium the average amount owed was 800 12 IRS forms editThe IRS introduced several new forms connected with the Premium tax credit PTC Form 8962 the Premium Tax Credit PTC must be filed with a 1040 income tax return by individuals who already received advance subsidies through a healthcare exchange The form was released by the IRS on November 17 2014 without accompanying instructions 13 Form 8965 Health Coverage Exemptions 14 15 Three forms 1095 A 1095 B 1095 C will be issued respectively by a health exchange insurance company or an employer to taxpayers The taxpayer will rely on these forms for proof satisfying the individual mandate 16 For the tax year 2014 only Form 1095 A provided by a health insurance exchange is required by the IRS 17 References edit Colorado health insurance buyers may get smaller tax credits in 2015 The Denver Post 27 October 2014 Retrieved 2016 09 02 Colorado health exchange users may pay much more for insurance next year Denver Business Journal Retrieved 2016 09 02 https www kff org health reform state indicator average monthly advance premium tax credit aptc currentTimeframe 0 amp sortModel 7B 22colId 22 22Location 22 22sort 22 22asc 22 7D Ebeling Ashlea IRS Commissioner Predicts Miserable 2015 Tax Filing Season Forbes Retrieved 2016 09 02 Abbe R Gluck The Supreme Court 2014 Term Comment Imperfect Statutes Imperfect Courts Understanding Congress s Plan in the Era of Unorthodox Lawmaking 129 HARV L REV 62 2015 Employer Sponsored Coverage and Premium Tax Credit Eligibility 30 August 2023 Income for the purpose of determining the eligibility for and the amount of the PTC is adjusted gross income AGI modified by adding non taxable items such as tax free interest non taxable social security benefits and tax free foreign earned income See LISAK BARRY New Premium Tax Credit for 2014 Retrieved 2016 09 02 The household income is the total of the modified AGI for all individuals in the household except those who are not required to file an income tax return Internal Revenue Bulletin 2012 24 published June 11 2012 defines a taxpayer s family as the individuals for whom a taxpayer claims a deduction for a personal exemption under section 151 for the taxable year which may include the taxpayer the taxpayer s spouse and dependents Individuals planning to use the filing status Married Filing Separately MFS are not eligible for the PTC See Frequently Asked Questions Beyond the Basics 8 October 2013 Retrieved 2016 09 02 Federal Poverty Level FPL Glossary Five Things to Know about the Renewal of Extra Affordable Care Act Subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act 11 August 2022 The Premium Tax Credit The Basics Internal Revenue Service www irs gov Retrieved 2023 06 08 Extenders to drive week Get ready for Microsoft vs IRS showdown IRS expands tax evasion crackdown to Singapore POLITICO 20 July 2015 Retrieved 2016 09 02 IRS Releases Form for Individuals Claiming the Premium Tax Credit www bna com Retrieved 2016 09 02 Form 8965 Health Coverage Exemptions and Instructions Obamacare Facts Retrieved 2016 09 02 Archived copy PDF Archived from the original PDF on 2016 11 30 Retrieved 2016 11 18 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint archived copy as title link Speculations Great Obamacare Ushers In Pile Of New 2014 Tax Forms Forbes Retrieved 2016 09 02 Greene Lewis Lisa Cpa Cpa Manager the TurboTax Blog 2014 12 10 How Health Care Reform Will Affect Your 2014 Taxes The Ones You File On April 15 2015 The Huffington Post Retrieved 2016 09 02 External links edithttps www irs gov pub irs pdf i8962 pdf https www irs gov uac The Premium Tax Credit https www irs gov irb 2012 24 IRB ar05 html d0e183 Internal Revenue Bulletin 2012 24 June 11 2012 http kff org interactive subsidy calculator https web archive org web 20141016191204 http www cbpp org files QA on Premium Credits pdf Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Premium tax credit amp oldid 1188873649, 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