Healthcare Mandate

[Christian]

From news accounts it now looks as if the Individual Mandate soon will be history. No more scratching about to come up with an exception that fits. What a relief ! 

[Lee B]

It's not a done deal yet. The repeal is in the Senate bill but not in the House bill.

[Jack from Ohio]

Nothing is changed until the Presidential ink is dry on a bill.  To talk about things before this happens, is to play into the hands of the  media and troublemakers in Washington.  The more political  gossip they get people to participate in, the more distracted everyone will be about all the other changes that are sure to happen.

 

[JohnH]

One report I saw said the individual mandate would expire in 2019, if it remains in its present form.  (But maybe that's old news).  In any event, as Jack says, nothing is known until the final legislation is written and signed.  That won't happen until all the the various bribes & trade-offs are in place.  It's not for nothing that we have the best politicians money can buy. 

[Randall]

Hopefully we'll know the final outcome in two weeks.  Pro or con.

[Lee B]

Just been skimming thru the new tax bill.

It appears that the effective date for the repeal of the Individual Mandate is not effective until tax years beginning after 12/31/18 !

Mind Blowing !

[ETax847]

My thoughts are this bill will pass as is.  They seem to have the votes and we should have new legislation in place by the holiday.  

[Jack from Ohio]

8 hours ago, ETax847 said:

My thoughts are this bill will pass as is.  They seem to have the votes and we should have new legislation in place by the holiday.  

Don't hold your breath on either account.

[Lee B]

On 12/16/2017 at 11:49 AM, cbslee said:

Just been skimming thru the new tax bill.

It appears that the effective date for the repeal of the Individual Mandate is not effective until tax years beginning after 12/31/18 !

Mind Blowing !

Their are now news stories confirming this. Apparently this was a concession to get Senator Susan Collins vote. So we will be wrestling with the SRP for 2 more tax seasons.

[RitaB]

20 hours ago, cbslee said:

So we will be wrestling with the SRP for 2 more tax seasons.

I have to admit I was wondering if I was alone on this Struggle Bus.  I can't have all the clients without insurance who also don't have an exemption.  I wonder sometimes if people are blindly entering exemptions on that darned Form 8965.  That's not how this works.  That's not how any of this works.

[easytax]

2 hours ago, RitaB said:

I have to admit I was wondering if I was alone on this Struggle Bus.  I can't have all the clients without insurance who also don't have an exemption.  I wonder sometimes if people are blindly entering exemptions on that darned Form 8965.  That's not how this works.  That's not how any of this works.

That is one of the BIG points --- the congress have no real idea of HOW ANY OF THIS ACTUALLY WORKS --- it is all theoretical to them.  How it might really actually effect the taxpayers seems to be beyond them. Words mean things ---- is not a real concept apparently.//// more gibberish seems to be the way.   I know it is old BUT "in confusion there is profit & power".

 

[RitaB]

7 hours ago, easytax said:

That is one of the BIG points --- the congress have no real idea of HOW ANY OF THIS ACTUALLY WORKS --- it is all theoretical to them.  How it might really actually effect the taxpayers seems to be beyond them. Words mean things ---- is not a real concept apparently.//// more gibberish seems to be the way.   I know it is old BUT "in confusion there is profit & power".

 

Well, actually I was voicing my suspicion that some fellow tax pros are making it harder on those of us who try to prepare an accurate return.  I think that congress actually understands it better than some (many) tax preparers.  Let's face it, this is an exceptionally good group of preparers here. The panic on a couple of FB groups from tax people who apparently don't understand that a credit beats a deduction, for example, has me just dumbfounded.  I can imagine a good many of them just going with "unaffordable" on Form 8965.  It's a bit discouraging.

[Abby Normal]

On 12/16/2017 at 2:49 PM, cbslee said:

Just been skimming thru the new tax bill.

It appears that the effective date for the repeal of the Individual Mandate is not effective until tax years beginning after 12/31/18 !

Mind Blowing !

They were afraid (and rightfully so) that repealing the mandate would throw the insurance markets into turmoil, so they are giving everyone a year to plan for it.

[RitaB]

17 hours ago, Abby Normal said:

They were afraid (and rightfully so) that repealing the mandate would throw the insurance markets into turmoil, so they are giving everyone a year to plan for it.

Thank you, that makes sense.  There are a surprising number of people who didn't really want to buy insurance but didn't know the SRP was relatively low compared to post 2010 health insurance premiums.  Yes, that seems reasonable now.  Hadn't thought of that.