IRS Form 1095-B Health Coverage

Who Files Form 1095-B?

The 1095-B Tax Form must be prepared by health insurance companies and employers that do not have more than fifty employees that work full-time and sent out to people with health insurance coverage as well as mailed to the IRS.

Additionally, governmental plans and programs are expected to summarize the coverage for people that benefited from insurance arrangements at any point during the previous year. The purpose of this document is to inform fiscal authorities about the people that have health insurance policies, their insurance providers, and individuals covered by those policies in addition to the main policyholder.

What Is the Difference Between Form 1095-A and 1095-B?

Some taxpayers confuse the IRS Health Coverage Form with a similar instrument they may also receive at the start of the year - IRS Form 1095-A, Health Insurance Marketplace Statement. While Form 1095-B outlines minimum coverage provided to the insured individual and the members of their family, Form 1095-A focuses on health insurance bought via the Health Insurance Marketplace. The information listed on the latter document will later be replicated on IRS Form 8962, Premium Tax Credit, so that the taxpayer is able to reduce the amount of health insurance premium they owe every month.

It is likely an individual is mailed both Form 1095-A and Form 1095-B - for example, for the first half of the year you had marketplace insurance coverage while the rest of the month was sponsored by your employer after you were hired. There is also no obligation to file either of these documents with the IRS - insurance companies and employers are supposed to furnish these instruments to tax organs instead.

What Is the Difference Between 1095-B and 1095-C?

Sometimes people who are covered by insurance from their employer receive a copy of a related form, which is very similar to 1095-B - 1095-C, Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage. It contains substantially the same information, but it is generated by employers with 50 or more full-time employees. It is possible that some taxpayers receive both tax forms, which depends on how the employers' coverage is set up.

Form 1095-B Instructions

The IRS Form 1095-B Instructions are as follows:

1. Check the appropriate box if you are making amendments to the form you previously filed - otherwise, you may leave this box blank. Identify the primary policyholder - write down their full name, taxpayer identification number, date of birth, and correspondence address. Refer to the official Form 1095-B instructions issued by the IRS to find the letter that specifies the source of the insurance policy - for instance, the insured person may be supported by individual insurance they purchased on their own initiative or their employer provides them with sufficient coverage.

2. Fill out the second part of the document only if the coverage is sponsored by the employer. You will have to state the name of the employer, their employer identification number, and the mailing address. The third part of the statement will allow you to identify the coverage provider who is not the employer of the person you named above - list the same details and add the telephone number in case the IRS requires additional clarifications.

3. Provide information on every individual covered by the plan. You need to enter their full names and social security numbers. Dates of birth are only necessary when you do not have taxpayer identification numbers of certain people on the list. Check the box to certify the person was covered throughout the entire year or put a tick in appropriate boxes to elaborate on months of coverage. There is also a continuation sheet on the last page of the form - you can name twelve more people and enclose this sheet with the form.

4. Do not submit Federal Form 1095-B without the instrument designed to serve as a cover sheet for this document - IRS Form 1094-B, Transmittal of Health Coverage Information Returns. As for your obligation to send a copy of the document to the insured individual, you have to do it by March 1 so that they are able to work on their own tax documentation. This condition will be considered fulfilled if you are publishing information on your website letting the individual know about it.

Where to Mail Form 1095-B?

The mailing addresses for Form 1095-B are:

• Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service Center Austin, TX 73301. Use this address for Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and foreign countries;
• Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service Center PO Box 219256 Kansas City, MO 64121-9256. Use this address for Alaska, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming;

When Is Form 1095-B Due?

Prepare and file Tax Form 1095-B by February 28 that comes after the year described in writing. The due date is different for insurance providers and employers that opt for electronic filing which is recommended - those entities have an extra month to work on the statement and need to send the document on or before March 31.

In case the date falls on a legal holiday, Saturday, or Sunday, entities obliged to file the paperwork receive more time to deal with the statement - send the form on the next business day whether you mail a paper return or submit the details electronically. If you cannot comply with Form 1095-B filing requirements on time, you can obtain an automatic one-month extension - complete and submit IRS Form 8809, Application for Extension of Time to File Information Returns. The form will be accepted as long as you manage to send it before the general deadline comes.

What Should I Do if I Lost My 1095-B Form?

While individual taxpayers are not required to submit Form 1095-B with tax organizations, they are advised to retain a copy of the form in their personal records even after their income statement is filed and there are no issues or disputes with the IRS.

However, if you misplaced the documentation, you can get a replacement by reaching out to the insurance carrier or health plan sponsored by the government that sent you the statement in the first place. It is also possible to get the form from the website of your insurance provider in case you have an account with access to records that bear your name - typically, the provider keeps the documentation available for a few years after the submission.

IRS 1095-B Related Forms:

• IRS Form 1094-B, Transmittal of Health Coverage Information Returns, is a form used by the IRS to obtain information about individuals that have health coverage meeting the standards of the Affordable Care Act;
• IRS Form 1095-A, Health Insurance Marketplace Statement, is the main document in IRS Form 1095 Series and it is used to notify the IRS about the individuals that benefit from a qualified health plan acquired through the Health Insurance Marketplace. The health marketplace tax form is required to help people reconcile the credit on their returns with advance credit payments, to aid them in claiming the premium tax credit, and to complete a tax return without mistakes.
• IRS Form 1095-C, Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage, is a related form for the employers with 50 or more full-time employees that have to report to the IRS the information about health coverage and offers of health coverage required under sections 6055 and 6056 of the Internal Revenue Code.