The Supreme Court's decision to uphold the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — keeping the individual mandate under Congress' power to tax — means the Internal Revenue Service will need to continue prepping in a big way to perform its role as healthcare tax regulator, according to a Star-Telegram report.
Under the PPACA, the IRS is responsible for both providing tax breaks and incentives to help people pay for health insurance and imposing penalties on able Americans who refuse to purchase a plan. Starting in 2015, taxpayers will need to provide proof on tax returns that they are covered by health insurance.
According to the report, the additional duties for the IRS means the agency will need new regulations, forms, publications and computer programs, as well as an outreach program to explain to taxpayers and tax professionals how the new health tax will function.
The penalty for not having health insurance will be fully phased in beginning in 2016; every uninsured adult will have to pay $695 or 2.5 percent of a family's income, up to $12,500. The Congressional Budget Office predicts 4 million Americans will pay the penalty that year.
However, there are no civil or criminal penalties for refusing to pay it, and the IRS cannot seize bank accounts or take the money from a person's wage to collect the healthcare tax, according to the report.
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Under the PPACA, the IRS is responsible for both providing tax breaks and incentives to help people pay for health insurance and imposing penalties on able Americans who refuse to purchase a plan. Starting in 2015, taxpayers will need to provide proof on tax returns that they are covered by health insurance.
According to the report, the additional duties for the IRS means the agency will need new regulations, forms, publications and computer programs, as well as an outreach program to explain to taxpayers and tax professionals how the new health tax will function.
The penalty for not having health insurance will be fully phased in beginning in 2016; every uninsured adult will have to pay $695 or 2.5 percent of a family's income, up to $12,500. The Congressional Budget Office predicts 4 million Americans will pay the penalty that year.
However, there are no civil or criminal penalties for refusing to pay it, and the IRS cannot seize bank accounts or take the money from a person's wage to collect the healthcare tax, according to the report.
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