Yes, if this were widespread, I would think we'd hear a lot more about it on these boards. It would seem to impact any early retiree living off investments, pre-SS / pension etc.I fall into the category you describe, but have never been told I can't go on ACA. ACA is based on annual ACA MAGI, not some kind of "regular monthly income" as far as I know. Don't see anything on form 8962 that implies otherwise.Assuming I'm describing it correctly (which I'm not positive). I'm not sure what it would be preventing people from gaming the system by lying about their expected income. I think that when you estimate your income you sign off on something that implies you're testifying to the estimate being accurate. So I assume if someone thought you were gaming the system to your advantage then you could be prosecuted for fraud (not sure I"m using those legal terms correctly).What is preventing the less scrupulous from low-balling their estimate for CSR benefit? Other than having to true up on PTC at tax time -- money they would've owed anyway?
I've heard of examples of people who didn't work, earned quarterly dividends, and then in December did Roth conversions/capital gains harvesting as part of tax planning. They were hoping to be on an ACA plan but were told that unless they could prove they had regular income (not dividends or annual roth conversions amortized monthly) then they were not eligible for ACA plans and were required to go on Medicaid. Every December after doing their tax planning (Roth conversions) they notified that they had high income for the month $50K-$75K but expected to have no income in January.
They weren't gaming the system as they were always clear about what they intended to do and were told that if they had less than $1.5K/income for the month of January they weren't allowed to be on an ACA plan.
Part of the problem is that all of these programs require a concept of "current income". There's no such thing as income in a specific moment in time only over a period of time (like a month or a year). I think healthcare.gov just muddles through navigating the ambiguous concept as best they can.
Needless to say I've always estimated to the best of my ability (and then done Roth conversions to ensure that I'm very close to what I estimated).
Statistics: Posted by Circle the Wagons — Wed Jul 17, 2024 11:59 am — Replies 27 — Views 1684