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Recent Tax Court Decisions Point Out ACA Pitfalls For Taxpayers

Posted on July 21, 2017

In today’s guest post we welcome back Christine Speidel. Ms. Speidel is an attorney with the Vermont Low Income Taxpayer Clinic and the Office of the Health Care Advocate, both at Vermont Legal Aid. She has a particular interest in health care reform as it affects low-income taxpayers. Christine is the author of the 2016 update of the Affordable Care Act chapter of “Effectively Representing Your Client before the IRS” and a nationally recognized expert on the intersection of tax law and health law. In today’s post, Christine discusses the Premium Tax Credit, and two situations where taxpayers were left with sizeable tax deficiencies after purchasing insurance.

An earlier version of this post appeared on the Forbes PT site on July 20, 2017.

The first round of deficiency cases involving the premium tax credit are still working their way through the Tax Court. So far, the decisions apply the law in a straightforward way, but they illuminate certain issues that may not be commonly known.

Not all ACA-compliant insurance plans qualify a taxpayer for PTC

The first opinion I am aware of is Nelson v. Commissioner, from April 2017. The holding is based on a straightforward application of the Code, but it exposes a confusing feature of the ACA: tax credits are only available for plans purchased through an ACA exchange. I.R.C. § 36B(c)(2)(A)(i). Government communications to taxpayers use the term Marketplace, which the Nelsons claimed was confusing and caused them to think that their health insurance qualified them for a PTC.

In 2014 the Nelsons purchased health insurance from Kaiser Permanente, and they claimed a premium tax credit (PTC) on their income tax return based on that coverage. After all, they had purchased a plan on the insurance “market.” However, the Service disallowed the claim when it did not see a record of any exchange plan for the Nelsons. As required by section 36B, the Court upheld the deficiency.

On its face, the Nelsons’ contention is plausible. The record does not have any details of the insurance plan that the Nelsons purchased, but it could have been perfectly good coverage. (In Vermont, the exact same insurance plans are sold on and off the exchange.) It seems strange that ACA-compliant insurance (in terms of benefits and plan design) might not qualify for a PTC just because of where it was purchased.

There is a further wrinkle that is not discussed in the Nelson case. In many states a taxpayer actually can purchase a PTC-qualifying plan directly from an insurance company. This is called “direct enrollment in a manner considered to be through an exchange”, and it is arranged between the exchange and its participating insurance companies. See 45 C.F.R. § 156.1230. This hybrid enrollment affords the taxpayer the right to claim a PTC, and a Form 1095-A with which to claim it. The exchange issues a 1095-A for exchange “direct enrolled” plans, as it does with ordinary exchange enrollments. For 2018, CMS is making direct enrollment more streamlined and will not require the insurer’s website to redirect the taxpayer to the exchange site for an eligibility determination, as has been the case in prior years. It will be very important for companies to communicate clearly so that consumers know whether they are purchasing a PTC-eligible plan.

Any plan that qualifies for the PTC should generate a Form 1095-A to the taxpayer. This is of little comfort to those who were expecting a 1095-A but do not receive one.

Taxpayers pay for Exchange APTC errors

Recently the Tax Court issued its first opinion on reconciliation of advance PTC (APTC) payments. The result is quite harsh: a semi-retired couple owes nearly $13,000 in additional income tax because Covered California miscalculated their eligibility for the PTC. Walker v Comm’r, T.C. Summary Opinion 2017-50. There is no indication that the taxpayers misrepresented their income; rather, it appears that the exchange erred in finding the Walkers financially eligible.

This outcome is no surprise; it is a foreseeable consequence of the system’s design. During the annual open enrollment period, exchanges estimate applicants’ annual income for the upcoming tax year and authorize health insurance subsidies based on that estimate. See 45 C.F.R. § 155.305. (Exchange open enrollment for 2018 is November 1 through December 15, 2017.) Taxpayers calculate their actual PTC over a year later, on the income tax return for the tax year. If the exchange authorized too little PTC, the taxpayer receives the additional amount as a refundable credit. If the exchange authorized too much, the taxpayer owes the excess as an additional income tax liability. I.R.C. § 36B(f)(2). (Taxpayers can also pay full freight and claim their entire credit at tax time. Most taxpayers who are eligible for the PTC cannot afford to do this. Nationally, about 83% of 2017 healthcare.gov enrollees receive APTC.)

Unfortunately, it is not uncommon to see exchange errors in PTC determinations, particularly for 2014 when the system was brand new. For example, in early 2015 CMS acknowledged that healthcare.gov had been inflating taxpayers’ income by counting all Social Security payments received by children. Anecdotally, several Vermont tax preparers have reported that clients with investment income were only asked about wages and other very common sources of income when they applied over the phone. Thus the exchange undercounted their income for the PTC and caused them an additional income tax obligation.

Data matching and other systemic protections are supposed to ensure that APTC determinations are as accurate as possible. However, not all of these systems have been developed or implemented, and certainly many were not for 2014. Indeed, last week the GAO issued a blistering report on deficits in HHS and IRS controls against improper PTC payments. GAO-17-467. Thankfully APTC calculators are available to check eligibility for the current year, so consumers and their advisors can double-check eligibility determinations that seem off.

Taxpayers up to 400% of the federal poverty level (FPL) are somewhat protected from exchanges under-estimating their income, since their excess APTC repayment obligation is capped. I.R.C. § 36B(f)(2)(B). Once 400% FPL is reached, however, the taxpayer must repay all erroneous APTC. This is why the Walkers have such a large deficiency. The Walkers reported an adjusted gross income of just over $63,000. If the Walkers’ household income (or modified adjusted gross income, which includes the nontaxable Social Security) had been $62,000 (just under 400% FPL for purposes of the 2014 PTC), their repayment would have been capped at $2,500. I.R.C. § 36B(f)(2)(B)(i); see also 2014 Form 8962 instructions, Table 1-1 and Table 5. There is an enormous liability cliff for taxpayers who reach the 400% FPL income level. The National Taxpayer Advocate discussed the problem in her 2015 Annual Report to Congress and her 2017 Objectives Report to Congress, particularly with respect to taxpayers who unexpectedly receive lump sum Social Security payments. Under current law, the cliff applies to all taxpayers regardless of fault or foreseeability.

The magnitude of the Walkers’ debt underscores how expensive comprehensive coverage with a capped out-of-pocket exposure can be for older people, and accordingly how valuable the PTC is for them. (For a nice visual of how PTC is calculated, see Figure 1 in this PTC fact sheet by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.) It also explains why some health policy experts believe that the ACA set its individual shared responsibility payment (ISRP) too low. The Walkers told the Court that they would not have purchased insurance if they had known they were not eligible for subsidies. This is completely plausible. If they had gone without insurance, the Walkers’ ISRP for 2014 would have been $431 (assuming both spouses were under 65). (Both the Taxpayer Advocate Service and the Tax Policy Center have ISRP estimators online. For readers using the TAS ISRP estimator, note that nontaxable Social Security is not counted in household income for the ISRP.) The ISRP was gradually phased in, so 2014 amounts are particularly low. However, even under the fully-implemented ISRP for 2016, a married couple under 65 with household income of $63,417 would only pay a penalty of $1,390. Compared to $13,000 for the exchange plan the Walkers chose, it’s conceivable that healthy taxpayers would take the risk. Even a bronze-level plan would most likely cost more than the Walkers’ ISRP.

The Walkers’ situation raises complicated policy questions about how best to strengthen the individual insurance market and provide robust coverage to people of all income levels and health statuses. Suffice it to say that there is no agreement in Congress on how to solve the problem.

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