IRS loosening enforcement of ObamaCare mandate

[n2doc]

The IRS says it will not reject tax forms from people who fail to answer whether they had health insurance, a sign of loosening up on enforcement of ObamaCare’s individual mandate.

Tax forms ask people whether they had health coverage in the previous year to determine whether they need to pay a financial penalty under ObamaCare’s mandate to have coverage.

The IRS cited Trump’s executive order calling on agencies to ease up on ObamaCare regulations.

"The recent executive order directed federal agencies to exercise authority and discretion available to them to reduce potential burden," the IRS said in a statement to Reason.

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http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/319672-irs-takes-step-against-obamacare-mandate

[KittyWampus]

1. Is this how the mandate is enforced? If it is, then Federal Govt isn't enforcing laws.

[Ms. Toad]

5. Two things -

1. Anyone with a brain can legally avoid enforcement, since the law was written so that they can withhold the tax from your refund, but cannot pursue you for failure to pay. Just adjust your withholdings so you don't have a refund.

2. Second - this particular change ONLY addresses whether the return is accepted for electronic filing. Failure to answer the question is an automatic reject and, particularly near the end of the filing period would wreak havoc and create the potential for lots of late filing penalties (or lots of mailed returns that then have to be hand-processed - which is both costly and a royal pain). You don't answer the question - you can still file your return electronically. That's all it does. How they treat a non-answer is an entirely different question. My guess is that they will treat a non-answer as a "no," assess the penalty and deduct it from your refund (if you are due one). If you don't have a refund, see point 1.

[Hoyt]

2. Without even the pretense of enforcing the Mandate, the ACA will die.

[MoonRiver]

3. That's the plan.

[Ms. Toad]

6. This doesn't adress enforcement.

It is limited to permitting you to file electronically, even if you don't answer the question.

Converting paper returns to electronic format is costly - rejecting returns from people who did not check the box would result in an increase in paper returns (which are timely filed, even with errors). This move is designed to avoid creating extra work (and government expense) because there was such chaos during the filing period.

(That doesn't mean they won't try to sabotage the mandate by other means. Just that, having worked in taxes, it is clear to me that this is just an administrative accommodation to the chaos surrounding the attempt to repeal the ACA.)

[Hoyt]

8. It certainly sends a signal and he's already issued an executive order encouraging

regulators to use as much flexibility as they have to undermine the ACA. I think even Obama's admin was lenient, but they didn't publically announce, "oh that mandate don't mean dooodly."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-signs-executive-order-that-could-lift-affordable-care-acts-individual-mandate/2017/01/20/8c99e35e-df70-11e6-b2cf-b67fe3285cbc_story.html?utm_term=.74e27619c171

[Ms. Toad]

9. That EO was before the AHCA was even drafted, let alone defeated.

And currently, we are seeing states that refused to expand Medicaid previously moving in that direction.

I'm not saying that his administration won't continue to try to undermine the ACA - but this particular action doesn't deal with enforcing the mandate. It deals with not disrupting the business of having as many tax returns filed electronically as possible.

They have NOT announced how they will treat tax returns for people who didn't check the box - merely that failing to check the box won't result in a rejection of your electronically filed tax return.

[Ms. Toad]

4. This is an administrative change to make tax filing go more smoothly.

There are a number of triggers that reject electronically filed tax returns (triggering penalties for late filing when the return is filed late). Failure to answer that question is one of the triggers.

This change merely permits improperly completed forms to be filed. It does not mean there isn't a mandate, or that it won't be enforced in the form of a reduced refund when the return is processed. It just means that if you don't answer the question your return is still accepted (as timely filed).

(That doesn't mean there won't be changes down the road - or explain how they might interpret a non-answer when the return is processed. Those questions are still up in the air. But this particular change just smoothes the administrative waters to address a potential mess created by the late attempt to repeal the ACA during the active filing period.)

[spanone]

7. don't they HAVE to uphold the law?

[Ms. Toad]

10. Accepting an electronically filed tax return (or not) is not part of the ACA

That's all this particular policy addresses - can you still file electronically if you don't check the box.