Blended Families

Healthcare mandate

Ginlyn0Ginlyn0 member
edited September 2013 in Blended Families

So I am currently working on some new products that will be offered by my company on the healthcare exchange and it sort of got me to thinking about something with this mandate/tax penalty. I started doing some reading but wondered if anyone else had even thought of this. From what I have read the person claiming the tax dependent exemption is ultimately responsible for healthcare coverage. In our case that means BM for my SKs and that also means Me for DD. I carry SKs on my coverage because DH, BM and SF have none available (yet we are also still paying BM for her old coverage-issue still not resolved). DD is only not carried on mine now because her SM's plan is way better than mine.

I have read somethings that show this could turn ugly for some blended families. In our state the NCP is required to carry insurance yet most are not allowed to claim dependent exemptions. Some articles I have read have pointed to parents that do not have a good relationship not furnishing the parent that claims the exemption with the necessary documents to prove coverage to avoid the penalty.

I think, in our situation, things will be okay. We are all amicable. I am more worried that for some reason SM's insurance won't count towards coverage for DD and I will have to pay a penalty or something.

Have any of you thought much about this?

DD(14),SD(13),SS(11),SS(9),DS(3)

Re: Healthcare mandate

  • I am currently working through my company as well reading and learning about the changes.  I haven't gotten as indepth it sounds, as you have. But I am already worried how it is going to effect us. We are NCP but provide health insurance for kids. It is NOT amicable.

    My DH gets to claim ONE child but not both.

    I'm not sure how that will come into play.

  • sweetwalkssweetwalks member
    edited September 2013
    I carry insurance but we don't get to claim SK's either, BM would never stand for that!
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  • I am currently working through my company as well reading and learning about the changes.  I haven't gotten as indepth it sounds, as you have. But I am already worried how it is going to effect us. We are NCP but provide health insurance for kids. It is NOT amicable.

    My DH gets to claim ONE child but not both.

    I'm not sure how that will come into play.

    We also carry Insurance on SS, but DH and BM switch years they claim SS (Yeah Iowa!!) I wonder how this could negatively affect BM as well. One would think that both parents will need to get along, so neither of them will get screwed.
  • Great, yet another thing to worry about.  I have called BD's insurance company in the past and they will not provide any information to me.  This is so ridiculous.  The plan that BD is on does not list the members on the id card.  It only lists the primary so looks like I have a problem.
  • Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiinteresting, very interesting...I'll be filing this little nugget away in my "just in case" folder.
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  • gin can you share where you found this info? BM currently carries insurance on the boys but SO claims them because she doesn't work and she has, in the past, refused our offer of covering them on our work insurance. i need to do more digging into this but a place to start would be great...
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  • CFjo2010CFjo2010 member
    edited September 2013
    I need a bit of clarification here...

    So DH covers K on our health insurance.  That means we have to give BM proof of insurance (which she already has) and she gets some sort of tax break for it?  Or does this mean that DH will need to claim K on his taxes since he covers the healthcare?
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  • dmndsr4evadmndsr4eva member
    edited September 2013
    I called the insurance company and the woman I talked to seemed that it would be no problem to provide the parent with the certificate of creditable coverage.  So maybe they will provide that.  All it has is the child's name and date they have been covered.  I work in HR so I know the insurance rep so maybe that is why she told me that?
  • This will be interesting.  My H carries my DD on his plan, and we also carry both stepkids, and we switch off claiming SS but BM2 always claims SD on her taxes.  I'll need to find out more about this.

     

     

     

  • I just want to clarify that what I'm doing at work doesn't have to do with taxes at all only benefits. It is only what sparked the thought in my head. I'm just googling info. Obviously the official IRS forms and pubs that would contain the information would not be released until closer to time to file taxes fro 2014, I would assume.

    I'm getting my info from various articles. It's not a fact. Just what I am reading and was wondering if anyone else had read anything in regards to this.

    I did find this which sort of backs it up though:

    https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/5000A

     

    DD(14),SD(13),SS(11),SS(9),DS(3)

  • I agree, can you post links to sources?
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  • Doesn't a CO usually trump things? So if someone can show the CO, they won't get a penalty for claiming the child but don't providing health care. 
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  • Great, yet another thing to worry about.  I have called BD's insurance company in the past and they will not provide any information to me.  This is so ridiculous.  The plan that BD is on does not list the members on the id card.  It only lists the primary so looks like I have a problem.
    Can you get a print out from the pediatrician showing that insurance paid the claims which proves DS is insured?
    Jen - Mom to two December 12 babies Nathaniel 12/12/06 and Addison 12/12/08
  • twister22 said:
    Doesn't a CO usually trump things? So if someone can show the CO, they won't get a penalty for claiming the child but don't providing health care. 
    Unfortunately a CO never trumps IRS. We went thru something with BM. She claimed SS childcare costs on DH's year to claim him. Turns out that no matter what a CO says, whomever has the child more overnights during the year gets to claim the childcare credit. So, we had to get the CO changed to reflect that whomever is claiming the dependent child tax credit that year would get child 1 more overnight than the other parent. That took care of that part of it. I'm not sure how the heck we would handle this as I carry the insurance on SS.
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  • jess9802jess9802 member
    edited September 2013
    The point of the mandate is that all Americans will have minimum essential coverage or qualify for some sort of exemption. The parent who claims a child on his or her tax return (by federal law, the parent who has the child more nights per year, no matter what the custody order says - though the CP can voluntarily waive this on Form 8332) has to provide proof of minimum essential coverage for that child - there is no requirement AFAIK that the custodial parent must pay for that coverage.

    What I've read simply says that anyone who provides minimum essential coverage will provide proof of that to the individual, which begs the question of whether the proof will be sent to the child, the custodial parent, or the parent paying for the insurance. My guess is this is something that will be ironed out as this rule goes into effect and as the IRS and HHS issue rules.

    FWIW, I'm not on my husband's health insurance and yet I've never had a problem getting information on my son's claims and benefits because I am his parent.
  • Oh that's right, there is that form the other parent can sign, as long as your other parent isn't a hostile party who refuses (as was our case)  Thanks for the reminder :) 

    So am I to understand there is a healthcare tax benefit for the person claiming the child that year, or is it that they avoid a penalty?

    So confusing.

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  • alib32 said:

    Oh that's right, there is that form the other parent can sign, as long as your other parent isn't a hostile party who refuses (as was our case)  Thanks for the reminder :) 

    So am I to understand there is a healthcare tax benefit for the person claiming the child that year, or is it that they avoid a penalty?

    So confusing.

    We have never had that form signed. We alternate years or negotiate with bm. It is highly beneficial for her to claim SS and doesn't make much difference for us.

    There is no benefit to being the one to carry the insurance. They simply avoid the penalty.

    I don't understand what everyone is freaking out over. Insured? Yes? Business as usual.
  • There is no health care tax benefit for claiming a child as a dependent. So long as you can show minimal coverage, you avoid the penalty. 
  • Great, yet another thing to worry about.  I have called BD's insurance company in the past and they will not provide any information to me.  This is so ridiculous.  The plan that BD is on does not list the members on the id card.  It only lists the primary so looks like I have a problem.

    The insurance company cannot give you info on BD or anyone else on the plan, but they have to on your child. Our BM cannot have info without DH's signature every time, because she called and preteneded to be me and tried to get info and change things on DH, DS, and I.
  • I've been reading so more more and I also found this: https://www.ofr.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2013-21157_PI.pdf

    This is further explanation if you look at pages 5-7. Yes, ultimately the liability is on the parent claiming the exemption of the dependent. It appears that it is possible to get a hardship in some cases in BF situations if a CO points the contrary.

    That wouldn't apply in my case or BM's case. Ex and I agreed to put DD on SM's coverage because mine kept getting worse but since he has NEVER had insurance on her before and our CO has always said that I would cover her. DH's CO still says BM is ordered to cover the kids and we still pay her the old premium amount even though I cover them under my insurance now since she dropped their coverage for no reason and didn't tell us.

    But basically, from what I have read if you are able to produce the proof of insurance (unclear if there will be a new standard form for this with new regulations) then you should be okay regardless of who is paying for it. So so long as I am able to get the forms from SM or her insurance company then I would be okay, same with BM.

    DD(14),SD(13),SS(11),SS(9),DS(3)

  • I would think as long as you can provide proof of insurance, you're fine. Regardless of who carries. These rules just outline who gets penalized if you are uninsured. So if the NCP is ordered to carry insurance and is refusing, the CP can't just say oh well it their responsibility and leave the child uninsured.
  • I am certain that the Insurance Companies will be sending you proof, just as you get W4's sent in the mail.  It will be automatic.  Can you imagine Insurance companies being swamped with requests for proof? 

    "he offered her the world. she said she had her own" - poet Monique Duval
  • +just+j+ I think the problem/concern is the proof going to the parent that carries the insurance vs. the parent  that is needing it for IRS purposes. In our case our health insurance company doesn't have the first bit of contact info for BM it is only DH. The kids live primarily with BM though.

    So if DH were an Ahole and didn't forward that proof and BM was unable to obtain it any other way...hence the concern. 

  • +just+j+ I think the problem/concern is the proof going to the parent that carries the insurance vs. the parent  that is needing it for IRS purposes. In our case our health insurance company doesn't have the first bit of contact info for BM it is only DH. The kids live primarily with BM though.

    So if DH were an Ahole and didn't forward that proof and BM was unable to obtain it any other way...hence the concern. 

    This is our situation as well. BM gets nothing from our insurance company. we send her cards and everything.
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