Accidental Retiree
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2012
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I've been working on this with MichaelB (thanks, MB!) and decided to share something I've seen going on with the 2014 tax return for DH and me. Perhaps other CovCA users will have useful feedback or will run into the same issue that I did.
For 2014, DH and I used CovCA, purchasing a bronze HSA plan and paying our premiums as shown by the website's calculator and as later billed by my insurer, Anthem Blue Cross.
For the Bay Area, I paid one price; for my new address, another, but the amounts came first via letter from CovCA and then via billing from Anthem.
Both amounts also pretty closely aligned with what I had found when I used the CovCA calculator to figure out how much I'd pay for insurance each month. I wasn't really surprised along the way. I thought I had my premiums covered, based on what I was being billed.
The other day, thanks to PhotoGuy, I learned my 1095-A -- the form that tells the IRA how much has been paid to the insurer on our behalf -- was ready on the CovCA site. I already had Turbo Tax installed and decided to plug in my numbers.
One of the forms populated by the 1095-A and using our MAGI was the IRS's new Form 8962, where what we paid in premiums gets reconciled with what we should have paid in premiums.
I actually expected to have overpaid somewhat since our actual MAGI turned out to be less than my estimated MAGI at the end of 2013.
There is a line on Form 8962 that takes MAGI and calculates what our share of the premiums should be. For me and DH, 9.5% of our MAGI was to be our share of premiums for the year. Broken down monthly, it was somewhat over $400/month. Such a bargain, right?
Except that all year long, I paid much lower premiums, as shown on the CovCA site's calculator and also as billed by my insurer.
So now at tax time, we determine what we really owe, which is not what we were billed. I don't mind paying what I owe. Since I overwithheld, I actually did pay much of the difference, which will come to something like $3300!
But those who did not overwithhold may be taken by surprise when they do their taxes, and I wanted to share what I've seen to give others a heads-up.
Thanks again to MichaelB for being a great sounding board, someone who understands enough of this to check the figures and forms I've shared with him.
I'd love to hear what others may have come across as they work on their CovCA reconciliation.
As I told MichaelB, this will be an interesting tax season.
For 2014, DH and I used CovCA, purchasing a bronze HSA plan and paying our premiums as shown by the website's calculator and as later billed by my insurer, Anthem Blue Cross.
For the Bay Area, I paid one price; for my new address, another, but the amounts came first via letter from CovCA and then via billing from Anthem.
Both amounts also pretty closely aligned with what I had found when I used the CovCA calculator to figure out how much I'd pay for insurance each month. I wasn't really surprised along the way. I thought I had my premiums covered, based on what I was being billed.
The other day, thanks to PhotoGuy, I learned my 1095-A -- the form that tells the IRA how much has been paid to the insurer on our behalf -- was ready on the CovCA site. I already had Turbo Tax installed and decided to plug in my numbers.
One of the forms populated by the 1095-A and using our MAGI was the IRS's new Form 8962, where what we paid in premiums gets reconciled with what we should have paid in premiums.
I actually expected to have overpaid somewhat since our actual MAGI turned out to be less than my estimated MAGI at the end of 2013.
There is a line on Form 8962 that takes MAGI and calculates what our share of the premiums should be. For me and DH, 9.5% of our MAGI was to be our share of premiums for the year. Broken down monthly, it was somewhat over $400/month. Such a bargain, right?
Except that all year long, I paid much lower premiums, as shown on the CovCA site's calculator and also as billed by my insurer.
So now at tax time, we determine what we really owe, which is not what we were billed. I don't mind paying what I owe. Since I overwithheld, I actually did pay much of the difference, which will come to something like $3300!
But those who did not overwithhold may be taken by surprise when they do their taxes, and I wanted to share what I've seen to give others a heads-up.
Thanks again to MichaelB for being a great sounding board, someone who understands enough of this to check the figures and forms I've shared with him.
I'd love to hear what others may have come across as they work on their CovCA reconciliation.
As I told MichaelB, this will be an interesting tax season.
