The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act reduced the Affordable Care Act individual shared responsibility payment to $0.00 starting with the January 1, 2019 tax year. The IRS has announced that Form 1040 will no longer have the “full-year health coverage or exempt” box and Form 8965- Health Coverage Exemptions- will no longer be used. A taxpayer does not have to make a shared responsibility payment with a tax return if the taxpayer does not have minimum essential coverage for all or part of 2019.
The changes to the individual mandate did not change an employer or health coverage provider’s responsibility to prepare and issue 1095 Forms identifying coverage and offers of coverage. Employees may have questions when they receive Form 1095-B/C. The IRS suggests referring the employee to its website which explains who should expect to receive the forms, how they can be used, and how to file tax returns without the forms. No ACA forms should be attached to individual Form 1040 filings this year. For more information and to access the IRS Question and Answers, click here.
