IRS Will Not Reject Tax Returns That Do Not Address Obamacare Reporting Requirements

Posted on February 22, 2017

Obamacare, formally known as the Affordable Care Act, requires taxpayers to provide information on their annual federal Form 1040 tax returns related to healthcare coverage.

For the 2016 filing season, the IRS had planned to reject tax returns that did not provide information related to health insurance coverage as required under Obamacare. However, on January 20, 2017, President Trump issued an executive order instructing federal agencies, including the IRS, to ease their “compliance burden” of Obamacare.

In response, the IRS will accept the filing of tax returns that do not contain the required health insurance information and will process those tax returns. However, because Obamacare is still law, the IRS might contact taxpayers about their tax returns, including health insurance coverage, after the tax returns have been filed.

The IRS stated that their intention to contact taxpayers after their tax returns have been filed is “similar to how we handled this in previous years, and this reflects the normal IRS post-filing compliance procedures that we follow.”

The IRS’ response to President Trump’s executive order is not surprising. What do you think?

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