Hsa & magi

[COZICAN]

If I have $60,000 income which I report on my tax form and I write a $7000 check from savings as a tax deductible contribution to an HSA will that increase my MAGI to $67,000?

 

[SevenUp]

If I have $60,000 income which I report on my tax form and I write a $7000 check from savings as a tax deductible contribution to an HSA will that increase my MAGI to $67,000?

No, but it will decrease many (maybe all?) MAGIs to $53,000.

 

[COZICAN]

I guess I just need to pull up a tax form and see where that HSA entry falls. So much for sitting around the pool.

 

[Dtail]

See the below chart. Should be a 7k deduction arriving at 53k.

http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/pdf/2019/magi.pdf

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

Can anyone open an HSA account or are there special rules? This is my first year on ACA, 2nd year retired and I have a Silver plan but it's not considered high deductible so I'm assuming I can't open an HSA this year? Can someone confirm that, I would like to start saving some money for future out of pocket Dental and Vision expenses and also if it reduces my MAGI, then I can also do a small Roth conversion as well.

 

[COZICAN]

Can anyone open an HSA account or are there special rules? This is my first year on ACA, 2nd year retired and I have a Silver plan but it's not considered high deductible so I'm assuming I can't open an HSA this year? Can someone confirm that, I would like to start saving some money for future out of pocket Dental and Vision expenses and also if it reduces my MAGI, then I can also do a small Roth conversion as well.

It will show “HSA Eligible “ on the ACA website if it is

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

Thanks but it's not, I'm trying to find a loophole. Next year I will need to change my plan to qualify, not looking forward to that, I spent so much time trying to figure it out for this year, very confusing.

 

[RunningBum]

There is no loophole. If you don't have an ACA eligible plan, you can't contribute to an HSA. Period.

Plans vary from state to state, but what I found was that the only difference between bronze and silver with the same provider was the deductible, OOP max, and co-pays. Not sure why yours is so complicated.

 

[MichaelB]

I guess I just need to pull up a tax form and see where that HSA entry falls. So much for sitting around the pool.

Not a deduction. HSA is an above the line adjustment to income, similar to an IRA.

 

[candrew]

If I have $60,000 income which I report on my tax form and I write a $7000 check from savings as a tax deductible contribution to an HSA will that increase my MAGI to $67,000?

Be aware of annual individual contribution limits to a HSA. You can contribute up to $3,500 to an HSA if you have single coverage or up to $7,000 for family coverage in 2019, which is slightly more than the 2018 limits. If you're 55 or older anytime in 2019, you'll be able to contribute an extra $1,000. A spouse wishing to contribute the $1K catch-up must have their own HSA to do so. IOW, spouses, if they are both over age 55 and each having their own HSA account may contribute 9K collectively for the year.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

There is no loophole. If you don't have an ACA eligible plan, you can't contribute to an HSA. Period.

Plans vary from state to state, but what I found was that the only difference between bronze and silver with the same provider was the deductible, OOP max, and co-pays. Not sure why yours is so complicated.

Not complicated, just to many choices in California and I spent way to much time and sleepless nights trying to figure out the best deal for my reasonably healthy situation. I think I had a choice of 83 plans before I started to whittle it down and being new to it, I thought best to go with a Silver plan that I qualified for rather than the higher deductible plans. Now I'm more educated on how this whole thing works, it might be to my advantage to go Bronze next year, either way I suppose it's a roll of the dice.

 

[pb4uski]

It will show “HSA Eligible “ on the ACA website if it is

and there seem to be less and less HDHI plans that are HSA eligible.... seems like years ago most HDHI plans were HSA eligible... today very few are.

 

[pb4uski]

Not complicated, just to many choices in California and I spent way to much time and sleepless nights trying to figure out the best deal for my reasonably healthy situation. I think I had a choice of 83 plans before I started to whittle it down and being new to it, I thought best to go with a Silver plan that I qualified for rather than the higher deductible plans. Now I'm more educated on how this whole thing works, it might be to my advantage to go Bronze next year, either way I suppose it's a roll of the dice.

For reasonably healthy insureds, with most HDHI plans, your total cost will be your premiums paid and uncovered claims (claims under your deductible)... IME since we have minimal claims, the lowest premium wins... I know some years we will have some issues and pay the full deductible and it is what it is, but most years our claims are less than $1,000 so lowest premium wins.

 

[Rianne]

We put $8000 into our HSA this year. We depend on that to lower our MAGI for ACA. Our insurance broker pointed out the benefits of an HSA and that's it is worth it to take a HDHI plan instead of the silver one. A few of the benefits I've found:


-You can use this money for medicare premiums in the future
-Although our deductibles are high ($6000 apiece, $12,000 max out of pocket) since we're fairly healthy, we still pay far less than we did on a silver plan. Our premium is $8.28/month as opposed to $534 for premiums alone for silver plan. Plus, HI company discounts everything so much, the co pays often times were as much as the service or tests anyway.
It's a personal decision, but it works for us.

 

[candrew]

Our insurance broker pointed out the benefits of an HSA and that's it is worth it to take a HDHI plan instead of the silver one. A few of the benefits I've found:


-You can use this money for medicare premiums in the future
-Although our deductibles are high ($6000 apiece, $12,000 max out of pocket) since we're fairly healthy, we still pay far less than we did on a silver plan. Our premium is $8.28/month as opposed to $534 for premiums alone for silver plan. Plus, HI company discounts everything so much, the co pays often times were as much as the service or tests anyway.
It's a personal decision, but it works for us.

We found the same to be true (at least so far) in our case. First year on ACA we went with Silver CSR plans. The last 2 years we've enrolled in Bronze level HD HSA compliant plans with much lower premiums along with maxing out our annual HSA contributions. DW needed Mohs surgery this year. Billed amount was $2100 discounted to $710 allowed for in-network.

 

[RetireAge50]

Can anyone open an HSA account or are there special rules?

When I read through the “rules” last year it seemed my normal bronze plan fit so I went ahead and opened and funded an HSA. For 2019 I went ahead and chose specifically a HSA labeled plan just in case.

 

[RunningBum]

When I read through the “rules” last year it seemed my normal bronze plan fit so I went ahead and opened and funded an HSA. For 2019 I went ahead and chose specifically a HSA labeled plan just in case.

They are not "rules", they are rules. Unless you consider the whole tax code as "rules". If you did it on the ACA I think you have to fill in your plan number, which they can automate checking on to see if it really is an HSA plan. Expect to see a letter from the IRS in the next few months, with an amount due including interest and 6% penalty.

 

[audreyh1]

If I have $60,000 income which I report on my tax form and I write a $7000 check from savings as a tax deductible contribution to an HSA will that increase my MAGI to $67,000?

No - it will decrease your MAGI to $53,000.

 

[bingybear]

There is no loophole. If you don't have an ACA eligible plan, you can't contribute to an HSA. Period.

Plans vary from state to state, but what I found was that the only difference between bronze and silver with the same provider was the deductible, OOP max, and co-pays. Not sure why yours is so complicated.

When did this rule come in to being? You need a HSA compatible plan to contribute to the HSA. When I was on a cobra and had a hsa compatible plan. I could contribute.

Bronze plans are not the only insurance that can be hsa compatible. Some silver plans are hsa compatible. If you get into CSR you could make the plan not hsa compatible due to the CSR changes to the plan. This may not be obvious at first.

 

[RunningBum]

There is no loophole. If you don't have an ACA eligible plan, you can't contribute to an HSA. Period.


When did this rule come in to being? You need a HSA compatible plan to contribute to the HSA. When I was on a cobra and had a hsa compatible plan. I could contribute.

Bronze plans are not the only insurance that can be hsa compatible. Some silver plans are hsa compatible. If you get into CSR you could make the plan not hsa compatible due to the CSR changes to the plan. This may not be obvious at first.

That's a typo. Should read "If you don't have an HSA eligible plan, ...". You can have a company or cobra HSA plan. I can't edit my original post so I can't fix it.

 

[RetireAge50]

They are not "rules", they are rules. Unless you consider the whole tax code as "rules". If you did it on the ACA I think you have to fill in your plan number, which they can automate checking on to see if it really is an HSA plan. Expect to see a letter from the IRS in the next few months, with an amount due including interest and 6% penalty.

I do consider them rules not “rules” and as far as I can tell I did not violate them. I’m not a tax attorney though so maybe I’m missing something and a letter will come my way.