Once you’ve completed your taxes this year, take a look at your income and see if you’ll qualify for a federal health insurance subsidy in 2014. If your adjusted gross income was less than 400% of the federal poverty level (that’s about $45,000 for a single person or $92,000 for a family of four, in 2012), you may qualify for a government subsidy in 2014. Click here to calculate your subsidy. Failure to obtain health insurance in 2014 could result in a tax penalty. The penalty starts at $95 or 1% of income (whichever is greater) per person in 2014. It gradually rises until it hits 2.5% or $695 (whichever is greater) per person by 2016.
Another change: starting this year, you may notice a new dollar figure in Box 12 of your W-2. If you have employer-based health insurance, the cost of your coverage may be reported to the IRS here. Even though the value of your plan is reported on your W-2, it’s not taxable. So you don’t need to report it as income on your tax return. This reporting is for the so-called “Cadillac” plans (with aggregate values of over $10,200 for individual coverage or $27,500 for families) which may be subject to an excise tax starting in 2018.
