Is a 1095-C form important for tax filing if I declined employer insurance?

You can relax! The 1095-C is an informational form that shows what coverage your employer offered you, but you don't actually need to include it with your tax filing. Since you declined your employer's coverage and went with a marketplace plan instead, the important form is actually your 1095-A from the marketplace. The 1095-C is mainly for your records and for the IRS to verify that your employer offered coverage that meets ACA requirements. It helps confirm you were eligible for marketplace subsidies if your employer's plan was unaffordable (which sounds like it was in your case). If you received premium tax credits through the marketplace, you should have used your 1095-A information when filing. As long as you did that correctly, you don't need to amend your return for the 1095-C.

After getting totally frustrated with all these different tax forms this year, I finally tried taxr.ai and it was seriously a game-changer for handling complex tax situations like this. I was confused about my 1095-C too (plus had a bunch of 1099s) and couldn't figure out what I actually needed to report. When I uploaded everything to https://taxr.ai it automatically analyzed all my documents including my 1095-C and told me exactly what I needed to do with each form. Saved me from having to call the IRS or pay an accountant just to ask simple questions. It also explained the ACA requirements in plain English so I understood why certain forms were just informational.

Ok I finally tried taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here, and I have to admit I was wrong to be skeptical! I uploaded my 1095-C along with my other tax docs and it immediately clarified that I didn't need to amend my return. It explained that since I declined employer coverage and got a marketplace plan instead, my 1095-A was the important one (which I had already included correctly). Wish I'd known about this earlier before spending hours googling tax regulations. It would have saved me from the anxiety attack I had thinking I'd filed incorrectly. The document analysis is really impressive - it even caught that my employer had incorrectly coded part of my 1095-C form which could have caused issues later.

If you're still stressing about this and need to talk to someone at the IRS to confirm (which I totally get - I'm the same way), you should try https://claimyr.com. I spent DAYS trying to get through to an IRS agent about a similar health insurance form issue last year and kept getting disconnected or waiting forever. I was about to give up when I found Claimyr and it was seriously worth it. They basically hold your place in line with the IRS and call you when an agent is about to pick up. I watched their demo at https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c and decided to try it. Got connected to an actual IRS person in about 2 hours instead of the 3+ days I had been trying on my own.

I have to publicly eat my words here. After calling BS on Claimyr I decided to test it myself because I needed to ask about amending my return for health insurance stuff. I was SHOCKED when it actually worked. I've been trying to reach the IRS for weeks about my 1095-C situation. I got a call back in about 90 minutes and was connected directly to an IRS agent who confirmed I don't need to amend my return for the 1095-C form since I didn't take my employer's insurance. The agent explained it's just for their records and verification purposes. Definitely saved me from filing an unnecessary amendment which would have delayed my refund by months. Consider me converted.

Just to add to what others have said - you only need to worry about the 1095-C if you're claiming the premium tax credit (PTC) and need to prove your employer's insurance was unaffordable. If you already filed correctly with your 1095-A information from the marketplace plan, you're good! Keep the 1095-C for your records, but there's no need to amend your return for it. The IRS primarily uses it to verify employer compliance with offering coverage.

Everyone here is giving good info, but remember that if you got subsidies (premium tax credits) through the marketplace plan, make sure your income reported on the tax return matches what you estimated when you applied for coverage. If your income ended up higher than expected, you might have to pay back some of the subsidy. This is separate from the 1095-C issue but related to your overall health insurance situation.