IRS Health Care Tax Tip 2014-05, March 6, 2014

The health care law has provisions that may affect your personal income taxes. How the law may affect you may depend on your employment status, whether you participate in a tax favored health plan and your age.

Here are three tips about how the law may affect you:

1. Employment Status
   • If you are employed your employer may report the value of the health insurance provided to you on your W-2 in Box 12 with Code DD.  However, it is not taxable.
   • If you are self-employed, you can deduct the cost of health insurance premiums, within limits, on your income tax return.
2. Tax Favored Health Plans
   • If you have a health flexible spending arrangement (FSA) at work, money you put into it normally reduces your taxable income.
   • If you have a health savings account (HSA) at work, money your employer puts into it for you, within limits, is not taxable.
   • Money you put into an HSA usually counts as a deduction and can lower your taxes.
   • Money you take from an HSA to use for qualified medical expenses is not taxable income; however, withdrawals for other purposes are taxable and can even be subject to an additional tax.
   • If you have a health reimbursement arrangement (HRA) at work, money you receive from it is generally not taxable.
3. AgeIf you are age 65 or older, the threshold for itemized medical deductions remains at 7.5 percent of your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) until 2017; for others the threshold increased to 10 percent of AGI in 2013. Your AGI is shown on your Form 1040 tax form.

More Information

Find out more about the tax-related provisions of the health care law at IRS.gov/aca.

Find out more about the health care law at HealthCare.gov.

IR-2014-23, March 6, 2014

WASHINGTON — By the end of February, more than 48 million tax refunds had been issued the IRS today announced – an increase of 5.6 percent compared to the same time last year. As of Feb. 28, the average refund this year is $3,034, up 3 percent compared to the average refund amount for the same time last year. Almost 88 percent of refunds to date have been directly deposited into the accounts of taxpayers, saving them time and a trip to the bank.

The number of returns filed electronically is up slightly from the same time last year however, the number of taxpayers filing from home computers is up 7.5 percent.

At the end of the fourth week of the filing season, the IRS had received almost 40 percent of the returns it expects to receive during 2014.

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