Tax season is around the corner, do you have all the documents you need?
Keep a close eye on your recent letters, and make sure you don’t lose the forms needed for filing taxes.
At the beginning of each year you may receive a bunch of letters from various companies and organizations, don’t throw them away immediately even if you might not understand them! Among them may be documents you need in order to file your taxes. Such documents will usually have form numbers in capital letters for easy identification. W-2, 1099 tax returns, 1098 for those with mortgages, 1095 for those with qualified health insurance, and so on. Form 1095 is subdivided into three categories.
Form 1095-A
If your personal or family health insurance is through Covered California, then you will receive Form 1095-A from Covered California, it will have the policy-holder’s name, social security number, birth date, address, and coverage dates. More importantly, it will show how much government subsidies are received each month. The subsidies were based on your income at the time of application. When you file your taxes, they will settle the difference accordingly. If your filed income is higher than before, the extra subsidies received must be returned to the Internal Revenue Service. However, if your filed income is lower, the IRS will pay the policy holder the difference in the form of a tax refund. Therefore it is of the utmost importance to not throw away the form after it is received.
Form 1095-B
People who purchase individual health insurance directly from an insurance company, corporate group health insurance with fewer than 50 people, or certain white, red and blue card holders, will receive Form 1095-B. The sender varies depending on the health insurance provider, such as the insurance company itself, or your employer, etc. It will also have the name, social security number, birth date and address of the policy holder. But unlike Form 1095-A, there are no subsidies. Form 1095-B will only tell you which months out of the last tax year (from January to December) in which you had a qualified insurance plan.
Form 1095-C
If you work for a large company with 50 or more full-time employees, you will receive Form 1095-C from your employer. The 1095-C form shows the coverage your employer offered you, even if you chose not to use it.
The IRS requires that all 1095 forms be sent by the end of January, so what happens if you don’t get them by the end of February? Will you not be able to file your taxes? The answer is not necessarily. Of the above three forms, only 1095-A is required for tax filing because it relates to the amount of money received from the government. The information on the 1095-B and 1095-C forms can help you prepare your tax return, but is not required. Taxpayers may use other health insurance information to prepare and file tax returns.
What should you do if you didn’t receive it?
If it’s 1095-A, you can log into your Covered California online account and download it. Or you can call Covered California and ask for a new copy. It is a good idea to have your Covered California case number ready before you call so that they can verify your identity.
If it is 1095-B, you can log into the insurance company’s online account to see if you can download an electronic version. If not, you can call the insurance company and request one to be resent. Customer service numbers can be found on the back of the insurance card. When you call, we recommend that you confirm the mailing address with the insurance company again.
For Form 1095-C, you’ll have to contact your employer.
If any information on Form 1095 is found to be incorrect, be sure to contact Covered California, your insurance company, or your employer, for corrections, in order to prevent any delays in filing your tax return.
