What happens if you don’t
buy health insurance and don’t pay
the tax (penalty) for not having health insurance? In an earlier post, I quoted Erza Klein’s
reading of the Affordable Care Act that you could NOT buy insurance and suffer
no consequences if you failed to pay the penalties for being uninsured other
than having the penalty deducted from your tax refund. As a result of the court ruling today, that
does not appear to be the case.
On page 44, footnote 11 of the court’s ruling in the
Obamacare case the court says:
—————— 11Of course, individuals do not have a lawful choice not to pay
a tax due, and may sometimes face prosecution for failing to do so (although
not for declining to make the shared responsibility payment, see 26 U. S. C.
§5000A(g)(2)). But that does not show that the tax restricts the lawful choice
whether to undertake or forgo the activity on which the tax is predicated.
Those subject to the individual mandate may lawfully forgo health insurance and
pay higher taxes, or buy health insurance and pay lower taxes. The only thing
they may not lawfully do is not buy health insurance and not pay the resulting
tax.
In other words, if you choose to NOT buy health insurance,
you cannot just ignore the penalty. If
you do, the IRS can come after you just as they could if you failed to pay any
tax due. The only thing the IRS can’t do
is prosecute you as a tax cheat.
3 comments:
This is not true. You don't have to buy insurance and don't have to pay the penalty if you never get a tax refund.
That's what I thought but after reading the footnote, I'm not so sure.
This is priceless! I can't make out which I adore more that tax jingle "1099 Problems" or this. LMAO...It's brilliant! That is right nonetheless, my chum had some severe tribulations with the IRS due to her self-employment. Steer clear of her mistakes and learn about the chief types of taxes that are filed with the IRS. http://www.tax-defense-network-tax-songs.com/song-parodies/75-2/
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