(Bloomberg) — As many as 6 million taxpayers will have to pay a penalty of as much as 1 percent of income because they went without health insurance in part or all of 2014, the Treasury Department said.
The penalty, part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, is designed to encourage people to sign up for health insurance using the expanded options and financial assistance available under the law. The penalty would apply to about 2 percent to 4 percent of all taxpayers for 2014.
Tax filing for 2014 opened Jan. 20, and the Internal Revenue Service's Form 1040 — for federal income tax — includes a new Line 61 asking if the taxpayer has health insurance. Three-quarters of taxpayers won't have to do anything more than check that box, said Mark Mazur, the department's assistant secretary for tax policy. The remainder will have to to take additional steps, though most won't pay a penalty, he said on a conference call with reporters.
Continue Reading for Free
Register and gain access to:
- Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.