Is Health Insurance Mandatory for 2025 Tax Filing? What Changed?

I just realized I'm totally out of the loop on health insurance requirements for taxes. Back before the Affordable Care Act, health insurance wasn't mandatory from what I understand. Then with the ACA, it became required and there was that specific question on tax forms asking about coverage. But I noticed something weird - I haven't seen that health insurance question on my tax forms for the past few years. It seems like health insurance isn't mandatory anymore? When did this change happen? I feel so behind on this stuff. I'm trying to prepare for my 2024 taxes (filing in 2025) and want to make sure I understand the current requirements. Is health insurance still connected to our tax returns at all? Are there penalties if you don't have coverage now? The whole system seems different than what I remember from the early ACA days.

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22 comments

Amina Toure

•8M

You're right that things have changed! The individual mandate (the requirement to have health insurance or pay a penalty) was effectively eliminated starting in 2019 when the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act reduced the penalty to $0. Technically, the ACA's requirement to have qualifying health coverage still exists, but there's no federal penalty for not having insurance. That said, some states (California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and DC) have their own individual mandates with state tax penalties. For your 2024 taxes (filing in 2025), there's no federal requirement to report health insurance coverage on your federal tax return. The IRS no longer requires you to indicate whether you had coverage, qualified for an exemption, or had to pay a penalty.

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Amina Toure

•8M

Yes, it's one of those situations where the law still exists but has no enforcement mechanism at the federal level - so effectively there's no federal mandate. For Massachusetts residents, you do need to be concerned about the state-level mandate. Massachusetts actually had its own health insurance requirement even before the ACA, and they kept it in place. You'll need to complete a Schedule HC with your Massachusetts state tax return to either show you had coverage or calculate a potential state penalty.

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FireflyDreams

•8M

I went through a similar confusion last year! After spending hours trying to figure out the health insurance requirements, I stumbled across taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) which was incredibly helpful. I uploaded my previous tax documents and it highlighted all the changes between tax years, including exactly when the health insurance reporting requirement disappeared. The tool explained that while the ACA itself wasn't repealed, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 just zeroed out the penalty. It helped me understand which tax forms changed and why I wasn't seeing that familiar health insurance question anymore. Saved me so much research time!

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FireflyDreams

•8M

The platform uses bank-level encryption for all document uploads and doesn't store your documents after analysis. I was nervous too, but they explain their security process during signup which made me feel better. You should absolutely keep your 1095 forms! Even though you don't need to report the information on your federal return, they're important proof of coverage. If you live in a state with its own mandate, you'll need them for state filing. Plus they verify information about marketplace subsidies if you get coverage that way.

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Javier Morales

•8M

Just wanted to follow up - I tried taxr.ai after posting my question and it was actually super helpful! I uploaded my last few years of returns and it immediately showed me the timeline of when the health insurance questions disappeared from Form 1040. It also flagged that I'm in California which still has a state mandate, something I had no idea about! Apparently I've been compliant through my employer coverage, but I would have been completely blindsided if I had gone without insurance thinking there were no penalties. The document comparison feature really helped me understand what changed between tax years.

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Emma Anderson

•8M

If you're also having trouble getting straight answers from the IRS about health insurance requirements or tax credits related to the ACA, I highly recommend Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). I spent WEEKS trying to reach someone at the IRS about my Premium Tax Credit questions last year. Claimyr got me connected to an actual IRS representative in under 45 minutes when I had been trying for days on my own. They have this callback system that works with the IRS phone system - you can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. The agent I spoke with clarified everything about my health insurance tax credit questions and saved me from making a costly mistake on my return.

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Emma Anderson

•8M

It doesn't skip the line - it essentially waits on hold for you. The IRS phone system has these ridiculous wait times (often 2+ hours), and Claimyr's system navigates the phone tree and waits in the queue. When an agent is about to pick up, they call you to connect. You still wait the same amount of time the IRS would normally take, but you don't have to sit there listening to hold music. They use a completely legitimate approach that works with the existing IRS phone system. Nothing sketchy about it - it's just automating the hold process so you can go about your day instead of being stuck on the phone.

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Isabella Ferreira

•8M

I need to eat my words. After posting my skeptical comment, I decided to try Claimyr just to prove it wouldn't work. Well, I was completely wrong. I had been trying to reach the IRS for THREE DAYS about my health coverage premium tax credit. Used the service yesterday, and I got a call back in about an hour telling me an IRS agent was on the line. The agent answered all my questions about Form 8962 and the premium tax credit calculations. I couldn't believe it actually worked! Saved me hours of frustration and helped me claim the correct amount for my marketplace insurance. Definitely worth it if you need to actually speak to someone at the IRS.

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CosmicVoyager

•8M

Don't forget that even though the federal penalty is gone, having health insurance is still important for other practical reasons. Medical bills are the leading cause of bankruptcy in the US. I learned this the hard way last year when I had an unexpected emergency appendectomy without insurance - $32,000 bill that I'm still paying off. Also, if you're getting insurance through the marketplace (healthcare.gov), you might qualify for premium subsidies depending on your income. Those subsidies are still available and were actually enhanced during COVID, with some of those enhancements extended through 2025.

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CosmicVoyager

•8M

When you apply for coverage on healthcare.gov, you can choose to have the subsidies applied directly to your monthly premiums - this is called the "advance premium tax credit." This reduces what you pay each month. At tax time, you'll reconcile these advance payments on Form 8962 with your actual income for the year. If you received too much in advanced subsidies, you might have to pay some back. If you received too little, you'll get the difference as a refund. You can also choose to take the entire credit when you file your taxes instead of getting it in advance, but most people prefer the monthly reduction.

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Carlos Mendoza

•5M

This is such a helpful thread! I had no idea about the state-level mandates still existing in some places. I'm moving from Texas to New Jersey next year and it sounds like I need to research NJ's requirements since they were mentioned as having their own mandate. One thing I'm still confused about - if I have employer-sponsored health insurance, do I need to worry about any of this? Or are these requirements mainly for people who don't have coverage through work? I get my insurance through my company's group plan, but I want to make sure I'm not missing anything when I file my taxes in the new state. Also, does anyone know if there are any other tax implications I should be aware of when moving between states with different health insurance requirements? I don't want to get hit with unexpected penalties on my first tax filing as a NJ resident.

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Javier Cruz

•5M

If you have employer-sponsored health insurance, you're generally in good shape! Employer group plans typically meet the requirements for both federal (when it was enforced) and state mandates. New Jersey's individual mandate is very similar to what the federal ACA used to require - if you had qualifying coverage for the federal mandate, it should satisfy NJ's requirement too. When you move to NJ, you'll need to file a New Jersey state tax return and complete Form NJ-1040HC to report your health coverage. Since you'll have employer coverage, you should just need to indicate that you had qualifying insurance for the months you were a NJ resident. The main thing to watch out for is timing - if there's any gap in coverage during your move (like if you start a new job and have a waiting period before benefits kick in), that could potentially trigger a penalty for those specific months. Also, make sure your new employer's plan is considered "minimum essential coverage" - most employer plans are, but it's worth confirming.

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PixelPioneer

•3M

This thread has been incredibly informative! I'm a tax preparer and I still get clients every year who are confused about the health insurance requirements. One thing I'd add is that even though there's no federal penalty anymore, you should still keep all your health insurance documents (1095-A, 1095-B, 1095-C forms) for your records. These forms are still issued and can be important for several reasons: they help verify coverage dates if you live in a state with its own mandate, they're needed for premium tax credit reconciliation if you got marketplace coverage with advance credits, and they can be useful if the IRS ever questions your filing or if you need to amend a return. Also, a quick tip for anyone using tax software - many programs still ask about health insurance even though it's not federally required. This is often because the software needs to handle state-specific requirements and premium tax credit calculations. Don't panic if you see health insurance questions in your tax prep software!

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Dmitry Smirnov

•3M

Thanks for the professional perspective! As someone new to understanding all these tax changes, I really appreciate the tip about keeping those 1095 forms. I actually threw away my old ones thinking they weren't needed anymore since the mandate penalty was gone. Sounds like I should start holding onto them again just in case. Your point about tax software still asking health insurance questions makes total sense now - I was wondering why TurboTax kept asking me about coverage when I thought it didn't matter anymore. Good to know it's handling those state requirements and credit calculations behind the scenes. It's reassuring to hear from someone who deals with this professionally that these questions are normal and not a sign that I'm missing something important. Do you happen to know if there's a specific number of years we should keep these health insurance documents, or is it the same as other tax records (typically 3-7 years)?

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