Although tax reform nullified the individual mandate for 2018, the individual shared responsibility provisions of the Affordable Care Act still require each individual for 2017 to have health coverage, have a health coverage exemption, or make a shared responsibility payment.
Form 8965 is used to claim a coverage exemption or calculate a shared responsibility payment. The IRS released the 2017 Form 8965 and identified minor changes to the available coverage exemptions. The following reasons may be used to claim an exemption from having health coverage:
- Income below the filing threshold
- Coverage considered unaffordable
- Short coverage gap
- Citizens living abroad and certain noncitizens
- Members of a health care sharing ministry
- Members of Indian tribes
- Incarceration
- Aggregate cost of self-only employer-sponsored coverage was more than 8.16% of household income
- Resident of a state that didn’t expand Medicaid
- Member of tax household born or adopted during the year
- Member of tax household died during the year
- Members of certain religious sects
- Ineligible for Medicaid based on a state’s decision not to expand Medicaid coverage
- General hardship
- Coverage considered unaffordable based on projected income
- Certain Medicaid programs that are not minimum essential coverage
A copy of the IRS form with instructions may be found by clicking here.
