Several new tax forms related to implementation of the Affordable Care Act will affect taxpayers in the 2015 tax filing season, according to Anne Freeman, chief of individual and specialty forms and publications at the IRS. Freeman, speaking at the 2014 IRS Nationwide Tax Forum, said the new forms will provide the IRS with information to calculate the tax penalty owed for failing to obtain health coverage as mandated by the ACA, as well as any tax credits to help pay for that coverage.

Some taxpayers will be exempt from offering proof of coverage, Freeman said. In order to qualify for an exemption of health insurance coverage requirements mandated by the ACA, taxpayers or tax preparers must state their reason on the new Form 8965, Health Coverage Exemptions. "Some of these exemptions can only be claimed through the marketplace, some of these exemptions can only be claimed using tax returns and then there are some exemptions that can be claimed either through the marketplace or through tax returns," Freeman said.

Freeman listed a number of possible exemptions in her presentation including:

• taxpayers who are members of a certain religious sect that conscientiously objects to health insurance,
• individuals experiencing certain difficulties obtaining health insurance,
• individuals who don't have access to affordable coverage based on projected income, and
• taxpayers who are living abroad or are incarcerated.

If there is no exemption, taxpayers or tax preparers will have to fill out a worksheet to calculate the shared responsibility payment amount. In any event, she said that only one Form 8965 should be filed per household.

Freeman said that another new ACA-related form, Form 8962, Premium Tax Credit (PTC), will be filed for a health insurance premium tax credit, which will help offset health insurance costs mandated by the ACA. The premium tax credit is refundable, so taxpayers with little or no income tax liability can still benefit, Freeman said.

Freeman said that to qualify for the credit, the taxpayer must:

• have bought health insurance through the marketplace;
• be ineligible for coverage through an employer or government plan; and
• be within a certain income level, which is generally between 100 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty line and can be claimed as an independent.

One indicator that a return preparer's clients will be able to claim the premium tax credit is that they won't receive a new Form 1095-A, Health Insurance Marketplace Statement, which is issued to individuals who enrolled in a health plan through the marketplace, Freeman said.

Other new forms Freeman mentioned include Form 1095-B, Health Coverage, which is issued by health insurers and provides information on who provided a taxpayer's health insurance coverage, what kind of coverage, who in the household was covered and for which months during the tax year; and Form 1095-C, Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage, which is filed by large employers to report to the IRS on health care coverage offered to full-time employees. Form 1095-C will show whether the employer provided insurance, who was covered, for which months and whether the employer made an offer of coverage, Freeman said.

This information will help with the computation of whether the insurance coverage was considered to be unaffordable, which will affect possible exemptions on Form 8965, Freeman said.