Obamacare, Taxes, And TurboTax: What's The Connection?

English: This is a diagram depicting the percentage in US who have no health insurance by age. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A recent survey shows that nearly 50% of Americans don't know the tax reporting requirement for health insurance. All taxpayers will need to report their current health insurance status on their 2014 tax returns. Since tax-filing season is about to begin, Intuit ran the TurboTax Health Survey with Harris Poll. Most Americans know very little about the connection between taxes and health insurance.

Still A Lack of Knowledge Surrounding Obamacare

As dictated by the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, Americans need to prove that they own qualifying health insurance. They need to prove this on their 2014 taxes in order to avoid a tax penalty. Over 62% of uninsured Americans know they're required to pay a penalty if they lack health insurance. However, 87% of those same individuals don't realize that the penalty to avoid this penalty has already passed.

TurboTax Set To Help Taxpayers With These Issues and Others

Health coverage purchased in the current open enrollment period through February 15 won't apply to this year's return. They'll apply to 2015's returns filed in 2016. Even though open enrollment is currently underway, Americans still don't know the connection between healthcare and taxes. TurboTax will warn Americans about such deadlines and show them how to fix these issues in the future. Of course, those with coverage before the deadline won't face any penalties.

Other Information From The Survey

Nearly 90% of Americans have health insurance, but residents of the South have lower coverage rates than other regions. Also, almost 50% of Americans aren't aware of premium tax credits that exist to make health insurance cheaper for low-income families. Nearly 75% of Americans with coverage from an exchange plan to renew their coverage for the following year. TurboTax currently offers a free resource for taxpayers concerning Obamacare at TurboTaxHealth.com, which users should visit immediately.