If you’re getting married – or divorced – and you or your spouse is insured through the Health Insurance Marketplace, you need to inform the Marketplace of your change of status.

This is especially important if you receive premium assistance through advance payments of the premium tax credit through a Health Insurance Marketplace.

Other changes in circumstances that you should report to the Marketplace include:

• Birth or adoption of a child
• A new job
• Loss of a job
• A new address
• Gained or lost eligibility for employer or government-sponsored healthcare coverage
• Any change that might affect family composition, family size, income or your enrollment

Informing the Marketplace about any changes in your status enables the Marketplace to ensure that you have the right coverage for you and your family as well as to adjust the amount of advance credit payments that the government sends to your health insurer.

By reporting the changes, you can prevent having too much or not enough premium assistance paid to reduce your monthly health insurance premiums.

Getting too little could mean missing out on monthly premium assistance that you deserve. Or, receiving too much premium assistance could mean you will owe money or get a smaller refund when you file your taxes.

A change in status can also affect eligibility for coverage through your employer or your spouse’s employer because that will affect your eligibility for the premium tax credit.

Some life events – such as marriage – give you and your spouse the opportunity to sign up for health care during a special enrollment period. That means that if one or both of you are uninsured, you may be able to get coverage now.

The special enrollment period for Marketplace coverage is typically open for 60 days from the date of the life event.

For more information, see www.irs.gov/uac/Affordable-Care-Act-Tax-Provisions-Home.  IRS Publication 5152 contains information about reporting changes in circumstances to the Marketplace

©2014 CPAmerica International

The IRS has provided the annual inflation-adjusted contribution, deductible and out-of-pocket expense limits for 2015 for health savings accounts.

The following limitations on contributions for calendar year 2015 were announced in Revenue Procedure 2014-30:

➤ $3,350 for an individual with self-only coverage

➤ $6,650 for an individual with family coverage under a high-deductible health plan

Each of these amounts is increased by $1,000 if the eligible individual is age 55 or older.

Also for calendar year 2015, a high-deductible health plan is a health plan with an annual deductible that is not less than $1,300 for self-only coverage or $2,600 for family coverage. The annual out-of-pocket expenses (deductibles, co-payments and other amounts, but not premiums) under the high-deductible plan should not exceed $6,450 for self-only coverage or $12,900 for family coverage.

Eligible individuals may make deductible contributions to a health savings account, subject to statutory limits.

Employers as well as other persons, including family members, also may contribute on behalf of an eligible individual. Employer contributions generally are treated as employer-provided coverage for medical expenses under an accident or health plan and are excludable from income.

In general, a person is an eligible individual if he is covered under a high-deductible health plan and is not covered under any other health plan that is not a high-deductible plan – unless the other coverage is permitted insurance, such as for worker’s compensation, a specified disease or illness, or insurance providing a fixed payment for hospitalization.

©2014 CPAmerica International

Are you planning on saving a portion of your tax refund this year? You should know about an option the IRS offers to make it easier for you to save. This can be done by including IRS Form 8888, Allocation of Refund, when you file your tax return. Using this form, you can split your refund between three options; direct deposit into a bank account, Series l Savings Bonds, or payment by check.

Many people take advantage of the ability to directly deposit their tax refund right into their checking account. But what they don’t know is they have the option to direct deposit funds in up to three different accounts. These bank accounts can be a checking account, savings account, Individual Retirement account (IRA), Health Savings Account (HSA), Archer MSA, Coverdell Education Savings Account (ESA), or TreasuryDirect online account. All of these provide many options to help you save.

The only time you can get a Series l Savings Bond in paper form is by getting it with your tax refund. On January 1, 2012, financial institutions stopped issuing U.S Series l Savings Bonds in paper form, meaning you cannot walk into a bank to purchase one. You have to purchase them electronically through a TreasuryDirect account. By using the tax refund option, you can get up to $5,000 worth of Series l savings bonds in paper form. These must be issued in multiples of $50 and can be allocated between three different savings bond registrations, meaning you can give these savings bonds as gifts or get them for yourself.

The Allocation of Refund form can help greatly with saving because you can choose how you want to receive your refund. For example, you can deposit part your refund in a savings account, get $150 of savings bonds, and have the additional amount sent to you by check. Everyone knows it’s hard to save your refund when you get that check, but by using this tool you can put aside a portion of your refund before you even have the chance to spend it.