Military Insurance and Form 1095 - Will This Affect My Tax Filing?

You're asking about Form 1095 and military health coverage (Tricare). Here's what you need to know: • Tricare qualifies as minimum essential coverage under the ACA • Military members typically receive Form 1095-B or 1095-C documenting this coverage • For 2023 tax returns (filed in 2024), you don't need to attach the 1095 form to your return • However, you should keep it for your records as proof of coverage • When TurboTax asks about health insurance, select that you had full-year coverage through a government program • This will not delay your refund or trigger a rejection The IRS no longer requires reporting health insurance on Form 1040 since the individual mandate penalty was reduced to $0.

Do you still have access to your military documentation that shows you're covered by Tricare? And have you received a Form 1095-B from DEERS (Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System) or your military branch? Sometimes they mail these out later than other tax forms.

As someone who's worked with military tax situations for years, I can confidently say that Tricare coverage is qualifying coverage and you don't need to worry about marketplace insurance forms. However, if you're having trouble getting clear answers from the IRS about your specific situation, you might want to try Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). In my experience, they can typically get you connected to an actual IRS agent in under 15 minutes instead of waiting on hold for hours. Many of my military clients have used it when they needed clarification on how their service-related benefits affect their taxes. The peace of mind from speaking directly with an agent is usually worth it, especially when you're concerned about potential delays.

Military here. Filed last week with Tricare. No issues at all. TurboTax asked about insurance. I selected government plan. Return accepted within 24 hours. Don't overthink it. You're good.

I'm not convinced this is as straightforward as others are making it seem. According to IRS Publication 974 and the Department of Defense guidelines, while Tricare does qualify as minimum essential coverage, there are specific situations where military members might still need to report additional information. For example, if you had partial-year coverage due to entering or leaving service, or if you had dependents with different coverage. The IRS instructions still require you to accurately report your coverage status even though the penalty is $0. I would recommend double-checking your specific situation rather than assuming a blanket answer applies.

Ppl are overthinking this tbh. I'm mil w/ Tricare and have filed taxes for 8+ yrs with zero probs. The marketplace form (1095-A) is only for ppl who got insurance thru healthcare.gov. Military gets 1095-B from DoD but you don't even need it to file. TurboTax is just asking to confirm you had coverage. Check the box and move on! Ur not gonna get denied for this.

My husband is military and I handle our taxes every year. Last tax season, I was worried about the exact same thing! I called DEERS to get our 1095-B forms sent to us, but they were backlogged. We went ahead and filed anyway, just indicating we had full-year Tricare coverage. Our refund came through without any issues about three weeks later. The health insurance question is really just a formality now - they're not penalizing people anymore for not having coverage like they did a few years ago.

Just wanted to add my experience as someone who's been through this exact situation. I'm a veteran who transitioned from active duty to civilian life mid-tax year, so I had both Tricare and employer insurance coverage. When I filed through TurboTax, I simply selected that I had qualifying coverage for the full year and didn't attach any 1095 forms. My return was accepted immediately and I received my refund within the normal timeframe. The key thing to remember is that Tricare is explicitly recognized by the IRS as minimum essential coverage under the ACA. Even if you don't have your 1095-B form in hand (which seems to be a common issue based on other comments here), you can still file confidently knowing you had qualifying coverage. The IRS isn't going to reject your return over this - they're mainly concerned with accuracy in reporting income and deductions these days. For your small business situation, focus on getting those business expenses and deductions documented properly since that's likely where you'll see the biggest impact on your refund amount. The health insurance question is really just a checkbox at this point.