Reader wonders about taxes, benefits for Obamacare

A shifting calendar means new Obamacare-related questions.

We’re seeing fewer queries about enrollment, which ends in mid-February, and more about taxes and actual benefits.

Debbie of Las Vegas wants more details on both.

She asks: “When you report your income when signing up for Obamacare, do you report the amount after deductions or before?”

This isn’t as straightforward a question as you might think, Debbie. So we turned for guidance to Lori Marrs, a certified public accountant with the Las Vegas firm of Marrs Bergquist, CPAs.

Basically, Debbie, you’re going to use your modified adjusted gross income. That means you count earnings from all sources after you’ve deducted business costs such as half of the self-employment tax or expenses related to health insurance if you work for yourself, but before you deduct mortgage interest, property taxes or sales taxes.

Of course, you also need to know what qualifies as earnings.

Debbie continues: “What exactly is the definition of household income? For example, if you are divorced but still living with your ex-spouse, do you have to include the income from the other person living in the home?”

We get this question all the time!

Not really. But Lori Marrs gave us as streamlined an answer as possible: If you’re divorced, you and your ex will file single returns even if you’re living together, so no, the other person’s income shouldn’t generally be included as your household income, Debbie.

There’s one exception, though.

If an ex is unemployed, living with you and getting more than half of his or her support from you, he or she might count as your dependent. Any income your ex earns up to $9,250 — that’s the standard 2014 deduction for heads of household — would get tacked onto your household income.

Now that the tax questions are out of the way, we’ll deal with Debbie’s final concern: “I don’t understand the annual deductible. When I go to a doctor, get blood work, X-rays, etc., I believe my copay covers these charges. But what I don’t know is how the insurance companies determine what procedures I must pay for first so that I meet my deductible before the insurance company will cover it.”

The simple answer is to call the customer-service number on the back of your insurance card and ask, because policies on deductibles and the expenses that fall outside them vary from carrier to carrier.

But there are some general rules. Your insurer is mostly going to follow the Affordable Care Act’s requirements on care it must cover even if you haven’t met your deductible. In general, you’ll get, free of charge, an annual wellness checkup, plus any preventive services mandated in each plan under the law. For a complete list, visit: https://www.healthcare.gov/preventive-care-benefits/

■ While we’re talking taxes, we’ve been getting questions about where Nevada Health Link customers can get their Form 1095-A, which is the IRS document that lists their exchange premium cost and tax credit for 2014.

Consumers who bought through the health link will need the form to do their taxes, and firm up how much of a tax credit — if any — they’ll receive.

Exchange officials say they sent the forms — all 30,000 or so of them — to the printer the week of Jan. 19, so they should be arriving via mail soon.

When you get your paperwork, don’t delay doing your taxes or seeing a tax preparer, Marrs said.

“This is the first year we’re filing under all of the new rules. People may find a lot of things they have to amend and revise, and some people may not understand they might have to pay something back,” Marrs said. “It’s always a good idea to get in early. If you do have a situation where you have to pay something back, you won’t owe until April, but the sooner you know about it, the easier it might be to plan for it.”

■ Finally, a reminder: You have one more week to buy a plan with a premium tax credit through Nevada Health Link. After Feb. 15, you’ll need extenuating circumstances, like a new baby, a divorce or a relocation, to buy subsidized coverage. Any plan you buy in the next week will be scheduled to take effect March 1.