Confused about Form 1095-C from old employer... do I need it if I declined their insurance?
So my previous employer just sent me a Form 1095-C in the mail and I'm not really sure what to do with it. I worked there for about 7 months last year but I turned down their health insurance since I'm covered under my parents' plan (I'm 24). Looking at the form, it shows all the months I was employed there with some kind of code in each box. I think it's showing that I was offered insurance but didn't take it? Do I even need this form for my taxes since I never used their health coverage? I'm getting ready to file my taxes soon and don't want to mess anything up. Should I be entering information from this form somewhere in my tax return? Or can I just file it away since I had other coverage? Any help would be super appreciated!
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Connor Richards
The Form 1095-C is provided by employers who offer health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act. It shows what months you were offered coverage and whether you enrolled. Since you declined coverage and were insured through your parents' plan instead, you don't actually need to include this form with your tax return. The codes on the form are just documenting that your employer offered you qualifying health coverage (which they're required to do). You should keep the form with your tax records, but you don't need to enter any information from it when filing. The form is basically your employer's way of showing the IRS they complied with their legal obligations to offer insurance. What matters for your taxes is that you had continuous health coverage throughout the year, which you did through your parents' plan (assuming you're under 26).
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Grace Durand
•Thanks for explaining! So even though my parents claimed me as a dependent, I still file my own taxes right? And their insurance covering me doesn't change anything on my return?
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Connor Richards
•Yes, you still file your own tax return even if your parents claim you as a dependent. Being covered under their health insurance doesn't change your filing requirements or process. The fact that you had health insurance coverage (through your parents) means you satisfied the health coverage requirement, so there's no penalty to worry about. Your parents' tax return will reflect that they provided your coverage, but you don't need to report anything special on your return regarding health insurance.
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Steven Adams
After dealing with the exact same situation last year, I found this amazing tool called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that saved me so much stress. I uploaded my 1095-C and other tax forms, and it analyzed everything and explained exactly what I needed to do. The system told me that while I needed to keep the 1095-C for my records, I didn't actually need to report anything from it since I declined the coverage and was covered elsewhere. It also checked if there were any potential issues with having declined employer coverage while being on my parents' plan, and confirmed everything was fine. Super helpful when you're dealing with forms you're not familiar with!
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Alice Fleming
•How does taxr.ai handle other employment forms? I've got a W-2 from my regular job but also did some freelance work. Would it help figure out if I need to pay estimated taxes on that side income?
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Hassan Khoury
•I'm skeptical about these tax tools. Does it actually give advice specific to your situation or just generic info you could Google? And what about privacy with uploading all your tax documents to some random site?
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Steven Adams
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Hassan Khoury
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Benjamin Kim
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Samantha Howard
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Megan D'Acosta
My experience with Form 1095-C was actually the opposite. I DIDN'T get one from my employer last year even though I was enrolled in their health plan, and it caused a huge headache when filing my taxes. If you have the form, definitely save it even if you don't need it right now. Better to have documentation you don't need than to need documentation you don't have!
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Sarah Ali
•Did you end up contacting your employer's HR department about the missing form? I'm wondering if that's something they're required to provide or if it's optional.
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Megan D'Acosta
•Yes, I did contact HR and they confirmed they're legally required to provide Form 1095-C to all full-time employees regardless of whether they enrolled in coverage or not. Mine had apparently been sent to an old address. They issued a new copy, but this was after I had already filed my taxes which led to some complications. HR mentioned the deadline for employers to provide these forms is March 2nd this year, so if you don't have yours by then, definitely reach out to them.
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Ryan Vasquez
Quick question - does anyone know if the code in Box 14 on the 1095-C actually matters if you declined the coverage? Mine has code 1E for all months I worked there but I have no idea what that means or if I need to care about it.
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Avery Saint
•Code 1E typically means you were offered minimum essential coverage that met the minimum value requirements for both employee and dependents. Basically confirming your employer offered adequate insurance that would have covered you and any dependents.
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Taylor Chen
•Since you declined the coverage, the specific offer code doesn't really matter for your tax filing. It's more relevant for your employer's compliance reporting. But 1E is actually a good code - means they offered you decent coverage.
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