What happens if someone falsified health insurance information on their tax return?

Three days is nothing to worry about for tax return processing. The IRS is often backed up and returns can take weeks or even months to process, especially if there are any complexity factors. That said, misrepresenting information on a tax return is never a good idea. The shared responsibility payment (the "penalty" for not having health insurance) was reduced to $0 starting in 2019 at the federal level, so there's no federal penalty for not having coverage. However, some states still have their own individual mandates and penalties. The bigger issue is that she knowingly provided false information on a document signed under penalty of perjury. The IRS may not catch it immediately, but they can audit returns for up to 3 years after filing (and longer in some cases). My advice would be to file an amended return with the correct information. It's always better to correct mistakes proactively rather than waiting for the IRS to discover them.

I was in a similar situation last year with confusing health insurance documentation, and I found the tools at https://taxr.ai incredibly helpful. I was worried about mistakes on my return because my insurance situation changed mid-year when I switched jobs. The software analyzed my tax documents and flagged inconsistencies between what my previous employer reported and what I had entered. It saved me from potentially misreporting my coverage periods. The system is really user-friendly - I just uploaded my tax documents and it highlighted discrepancies I needed to address before submission.

I was really skeptical about taxr.ai at first, but after using it to review my submitted return (which had health insurance reporting issues similar to what your friend is dealing with), I'm glad I tried it. It flagged exactly where my reporting was inconsistent with my 1095 forms. The analysis showed me precisely what I needed to correct on my amended return. Instead of guessing what might have triggered the IRS delay, I had clear guidance on the specific discrepancies. The peace of mind alone was worth it, and the amendment process went smoothly because I knew exactly what needed fixing.

If your friend is worried about the IRS having questions, she might want to be proactive. I had a similar issue and spent WEEKS trying to get through to someone at the IRS. Finally used https://claimyr.com and it was a game-changer. They held my place in the phone queue and called me when an actual human at the IRS was available. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c Instead of waiting on hold for hours or calling repeatedly and getting disconnected, I got through to a real person who explained my options. The agent walked me through exactly what I needed to do to correct my health insurance reporting mistake.

I need to apologize for my skeptical comment earlier. After my fifth attempt trying to reach the IRS about my own tax issue (kept getting disconnected after 40+ minutes on hold), I broke down and tried Claimyr. I'm genuinely shocked at how well it worked. Got connected to an IRS rep in about 90 minutes without having to sit by my phone. The agent was actually super helpful about my health insurance reporting issue. They explained that I qualified for an exemption I didn't know about and walked me through filing an amended return. Saved me a potential penalty and hours of frustration.

Important to note - your friend should be careful about what she says if she does call the IRS. They record calls and anything she admits to could potentially be used if they decide to pursue penalties for knowingly providing false information. The penalty for filing a fraudulent return can be up to 75% of the underpayment, plus potentially criminal charges in serious cases (though that's rare for something like this). She should consider consulting with a tax professional before making any calls.

One thing nobody's mentioned - if her return is just delayed, it might have nothing to do with the health insurance issue at all. My return took 11 weeks to process last year because of a backlog. The IRS is STILL catching up from the pandemic and staffing issues. Not every delay means they found a problem. Sometimes it's just the system being slow. And even if they do flag something, they usually send a letter asking for clarification before assuming fraud.