Online Tools Help Individuals and Employers Estimate Health Care Law’s Effect on Taxes

Whether you’re an employer or an individual taxpayer, the Taxpayer Advocate Service has several tools available to assist you in estimating credits and payments related to the Affordable Care Act. The Taxpayer Advocate Service recently added a tool to help employers understand how the employer shared responsibility provisions apply to their organization.

Because these tools provide only an estimate, you should not rely on them as an accurate calculation. You should use these estimators only as a guide to assist you in making decisions regarding your tax situation.

Tools for Employers

The Employer Shared Responsibility Provision Estimator  helps you understand how the provision works and how it may apply to your organization. If you are an employer, you can use the estimator to determine the number of your full-time employees, and whether you might be an applicable large employer. You can also use this estimator to compute your maximum potential liability for the employer shared responsibility payment.

The Small Business Health Care Tax Credit Estimator helps determine if you might be eligible for the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit and how much credit you might receive. This tool provides you with an estimate for tax year 2014 and beyond. However, some figures used in determining the credit are indexed for inflation. Because of this, for future years, the estimator cannot provide a detailed estimate.

Tools for Individuals

The Premium Tax Credit Change Estimator helps estimate how your premium tax credit will change if your income or family size changes during the year. This estimator tool does not report changes in circumstances to your Marketplace. To report changes and to adjust the amount of your advance payments of the premium tax credit you must contact your Health Insurance Marketplace. Be sure to report all changes directly to that Marketplace because they can affect both your coverage and your final credit when you file your federal tax return.

The Individual Shared Responsibility Payment Estimator helps you estimate the amount you may have to pay if you did not have minimum essential coverage during the year. This tool can only provide an estimate of your individual shared responsibility payment. To determine the payment when you file your tax return, use the Shared Responsibility Payment Worksheet in the instructions for Form 8965.

TAS is an independent organization within the IRS whose job is to ensure every taxpayer is treated fairly and that taxpayers know and understand their rights.