premium tax credit

[chenschuh]

Client got married in 07/2024. Wife's company provide health insurance. Husband had schedule c business. He found out it's cheaper for him to buy health ins through market.When I went to form 8962 enter month of marriage for alternate marriage calculation smart worksheet enter 07, it totally change the outcome of tax return.Not quite sure about the answer.Anyone run into this issue?

[Just-Lisa-Now-]

you weren't expecting it to change?

[George4Tacks]

Does the change make things correct or incorrect? 

When all else fails, read the instructions. 

[Just-Lisa-Now-]

Just adding the 8962 to that MFJ return I'd expect theyd have to pay back all, or a significant portion of the APTC he got as a discount on his insurance premiums due to the combined income on the joint return (and he only gave the marketplace his own income, not the joint figure). 

The alternative marriage calculation rarely helps much.  He may find that his spouses employer coverage ends up being a better deal.

[TaxGuyBill]

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@chenschuh wrote:

He found out it's cheaper for him to buy health ins through market.

When I went to form 8962 enter month of marriage for alternate marriage calculation smart worksheet enter 07, it totally change the outcome of tax return.

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Are you saying that he had Marketplace insurance AFTER he got married and was eligible for his wife's employer insurance?  If so, he generally does not qualify for any Premium Tax Credit after he became eligible for employer insurance.  You would change the SLCSP to $0.01 for each month that he was eligible for affordable employer insurance.

If the taxpayer needs to repay some of the Advance credit, the Alternative Calculation in the year of marriage can sometimes reduce that repayment.

[chenschuh]

Wife has HSA. Add husband really increse her premium 2.5 time more. He had to return all advanced premium credit. Alternate marriage calculation saved him close to 1000.

[Terry53029]

As Bill mentioned if he could get health insurance through his wife's employer then he is no longer allowed to get the premium tax credit unless employers insurance is considered unaffordable. Unaffordable means in 2024, a job-based health plan is considered "affordable" if your share of the monthly premium in the lowest-cost plan offered by the employer is less than 8.39% of your household income.