I received a Form 1095-C in the mail. What’s that?

Large employers must offer health insurance to their full time workers or pay a penalty.  These employers also must provide their employees with Form 1095-C to document that health coverage was offered.   Every employee of a large employer who was eligible for health coverage this year should receive a form 1095-C next year in January.  Even if you declined to sign up for your health plan at work, you will still receive a form 1095-C.  Information on this form will also be reported to the IRS.

Form 1095-C will indicate your name and the name of your large employer, the months during the prior calendar year when you were eligible for coverage, and the cost of the cheapest monthly premium you could have paid for coverage under your employer’s health plan. If you worked for a large employer that did not offer its full time employees health coverage, Form 1095-C will also indicate that.

Keep this form with your tax records.  You may need this form if you were offered health coverage by your employer and you did not sign up for it.  If you signed up for Marketplace coverage instead and received a premium tax credit, information on Form 1095-C will help you determine whether you were eligible for the tax credit (for example, if the cost of your employer health plan was more than 9.56% of your income in 2018.)

If you were uninsured during the year even though your employer offered you health coverage that year, you will be eligible for an exemption from the tax penalty in 2018 if you experienced a hardship that prevented you from enrolling in coverage.  You can claim the hardship exemption directly on your 2018 tax return when you file.  You will not be required to submit documentation of the hardship with your tax return, though you should retain any documentation for your own tax records.