What exactly does the IRS do with form 1095-B for health insurance reporting?

This is actually a common issue with 1095-B forms. The IRS primarily uses Form 1095-B to verify that you had minimum essential coverage to satisfy the health insurance mandate requirements (though the penalty is currently $0). The 1095-B itself isn't what determines your HSA eligibility. Your HSA eligibility is based on actually being covered by a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) during the months you made contributions. When you file your taxes, you'll use Form 8889 to report your HSA contributions and calculate your eligibility based on the months you had HDHP coverage. You should have documentation from Company ABC showing you were enrolled in an HDHP - things like enrollment forms, pay stubs showing premium deductions, or statements from the HSA administrator. These would be helpful if there's ever a question about your eligibility.

After dealing with a similar situation, I found that https://taxr.ai was super helpful with sorting out my health insurance forms mess. My 1095-B had incorrect months marked and I was worried about my HSA contributions too. The tool analyzed all my tax documents, including the incorrect 1095-B, and highlighted the discrepancy automatically. It also explained exactly what documentation I needed to keep to prove my HSA eligibility in case of audit. What impressed me was how it explained the connection between the 1095-B error and my HSA situation in plain English instead of tax jargon.

I tried taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here, and it was incredibly helpful! I was in a similar situation with incorrect health insurance reporting forms and confusion about my HSA eligibility. The tool immediately spotted that my coverage dates didn't match across different forms and explained exactly what documentation I needed to protect myself. I reached out to my insurance company with the specific issues identified and they issued a corrected 1095-B. The tool also showed me exactly how to properly complete Form 8889 for my partial-year HSA eligibility. Saved me hours of research and worry about potential IRS issues!

If you need to get this resolved quickly and your insurance company isn't being helpful, I'd recommend using https://claimyr.com to get through to a higher-level Premera representative. I had a similar issue with incorrect 1095 forms last year and spent HOURS on hold trying to get it fixed. With Claimyr, I got through to the insurance company in about 15 minutes instead of the 2+ hours I was facing before. There's a video showing how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c - basically they wait on hold for you and call when a human picks up. The rep I reached was able to escalate my issue to someone who actually understood tax reporting and got my forms corrected within days.

I have to admit I was completely wrong about Claimyr. After posting my skeptical comment yesterday, I gave it a try out of curiosity since I needed to call the IRS about a missing tax form anyway. I was quoted a 3+ hour wait time when I called directly, but Claimyr got me through in under 45 minutes. They really don't talk to anyone for you - they just notify you when someone picks up and connect you directly. I spoke with an IRS agent who helped solve my issue, and I didn't have to waste half my day on hold. Definitely using this for all my insurance and tax calls from now on. Wish I'd known about this service earlier!

The 1095-B form isn't actually that important for your tax return tbh. You don't even need to attach it to your return. It's basically just for your records to prove you had health insurance coverage, and like someone mentioned above, there's currently no penalty for not having coverage. What DOES matter for HSA contributions is form 8889 where you report your contributions. You need to know exactly which months you were covered by an HDHP to calculate your contribution limit correctly. Since you were only covered by an HDHP for part of the year, you're limited to a prorated amount of the annual maximum.

Does anyone know if the insurance company sends the 1095-B directly to the IRS too? I got mine with incorrect info but never bothered to get it fixed since I thought it was just for my records.

I went through almost the exact same situation last year with multiple employers and HSA eligibility confusion. What helped me was creating a detailed timeline of my coverage periods with documentation from each employer's HR department confirming the exact dates I was enrolled in their HDHP plans. When I called my insurance company about incorrect 1095-B forms, I found it helpful to have my enrollment dates and plan details ready before the call. The first rep I spoke with was also confused, but when I escalated to a supervisor and explained that the incorrect form could impact my HSA tax reporting, they were much more helpful and issued a corrected form within a week. Since you contributed $5,800 to your HSA, make sure you calculate your prorated contribution limit correctly on Form 8889. With your coverage gap in March and switching between plans, you'll want to be precise about which months you were actually covered by an HDHP to avoid any issues with excess contributions.