Month: September 2017

If you or anyone in your family receive advance payments of the premium tax credit, now is a good time to check on whether you need to adjust your premium assistance.

Because advance payments are paid directly to your insurance company (thereby lowering out-of-pocket cost for your health insurance premiums), changes to your income or family size may affect your credit. Therefore, you should report changes that have occurred since the time that you signed up for your health insurance plan.

Changes in circumstances include any of the following and should be reported to your Marketplace when they happen:

• Increases or decreases in your household income including, lump sum payments; for example, lump sum payment of Social Security benefits
• Marriage
• Divorce
• Birth or adoption of a child
• Other changes affecting the composition of your tax family
• Gaining or losing eligibility for government sponsored or employer-sponsored health care coverage
• Moving to a different address

Reporting the changes when they happen helps you to avoid getting too much or too little advance payment of the premium tax credit. Getting too much may mean that you owe additional money or receive a smaller refund when you file your taxes. Getting too little could mean missing out on premium assistance that reduces your out-of-pocket monthly premiums.

Changes in circumstances also may qualify you for a special enrollment period to change or get insurance through the Marketplace. In most cases, if you qualify for the special enrollment period, you generally have 60 days to enroll following the change in circumstances. Information about special enrollment can be found by visiting HealthCare.gov.

You can use the Premium Tax Credit Change Estimator to help you estimate how your premium tax credit will change if your income or family size changes during the year; however, this estimator tool does not report changes in circumstances to your Marketplace. To report changes and to adjust the amount of your advance payments of the premium tax credit you must contact your Health Insurance Marketplace.

Questions?

Please call if you have any questions about the Premium Tax Credit.

• By Leon Clinton
• September 21, 2017

The IRS offers tax relief to affected taxpayers (individuals and businesses) in any area designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), as qualifying for individual assistance and is part of a coordinated federal response to the damage caused by severe storms and flooding and is based on local damage assessments.

Currently, the following Texas counties are eligible for relief: Aransas, Bee, Brazoria, Calhoun, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Goliad, Harris, Jackson, Kleberg, Liberty, Matagorda, Nueces, Refugio, San Patricio, Victoria, and Wharton. Taxpayers in localities added later to the disaster area will automatically receive the same filing and payment relief.

The tax relief postpones various tax filing and payment deadlines that occurred starting on August 23, 2017. As a result, affected individuals and businesses will have until January 31, 2018, to file returns and pay any taxes that were originally due during this period. This includes the September 15, 2017, and January 16, 2018, deadlines for making quarterly estimated tax payments.

For individual tax filers, it also includes 2016 income tax returns that received a tax-filing extension until October 16, 2017. The IRS noted, however, that because tax payments related to these 2016 returns were originally due on April 18, 2017, those payments are not eligible for this relief.

A variety of business tax deadlines are also affected including the October 31 deadline for quarterly payroll and excise tax returns. In addition, the IRS is waiving late-deposit penalties for federal payroll and excise tax deposits normally due on or after August 23 and before September 7, if the deposits are made by September 7, 2017. If you believe this applies to your business, please call the office as soon as possible.

The IRS automatically provides filing and penalty relief to any taxpayer with an IRS address of record located in a federally declared disaster area. As such, taxpayers do need to contact the IRS to get this relief.

Note: If an affected taxpayer receives a late filing or late payment penalty notice from the IRS that has an original or extended filing, payment or deposit due date falling within the postponement period, the taxpayer should call the number on the notice to have the penalty abated.

In addition, the IRS will work with any taxpayer who lives outside the disaster area but whose records necessary to meet a deadline occurring during the postponement period are located in the affected area. Taxpayers qualifying for relief who live outside the disaster area should contact the IRS at 866-562-5227.

Note: This also includes workers assisting the relief activities who are affiliated with a recognized government or philanthropic organization.

Individuals and businesses who suffered uninsured or unreimbursed disaster-related losses can choose to claim them on either the return for the year the loss occurred (in this instance, the 2017 return normally filed next year) or the return for the prior year (2016).

Need Help?

If you’ve been affected by a natural disaster and have any questions or need additional information about tax relief, please call.

• By Leon Clinton
• September 19, 2017

If you filed for an extension of time to file your 2016 federal tax return and you also chose to have advance payments of the premium tax credit made to your coverage provider, it’s important you file your return sooner rather than later. Here are four things you should know:

1. If you received a six-month extension of time to file, you do not need to wait until the October 16, 2017, due date to file your return and reconcile your advance payments. You can–and should–file as soon as you have all the necessary documentation.

2. You must file to ensure you can continue having advance credit payments paid on your behalf in future years. If you do not file and reconcile your 2016 advance payments of the premium tax credit by the Marketplace’s fall re-enrollment period–even if you filed for an extension–you may not have your eligibility for advance payments of the PTC in 2018 determined for a period of time after you have filed your tax return with Form 8962.

3. Advance payments of the premium tax credit are reviewed in the fall by the Health Insurance Marketplace for the next calendar year as part of their annual re-enrollment and income verification process.

4. Use Form 8962, Premium Tax Credit, to reconcile any advance credit payments made on your behalf and to maintain your eligibility for future premium assistance.

Help is just a phone call away.

If you have any questions about filing an extended return, don’t hesitate to call.

• By Leon Clinton
• September 17, 2017