People who think Trump gave them an waive from Obamacare on their taxes is in for a surprise

For months, the Trump administration, and Trump supporers have been touting the fact that he signed an executive order waiving the tax penalty for not having health insurance in 2017. Well, people who are doing their taxes are finding out that this was complete and utter bullshit. The fact is that the law is still in full effect. The only thing Trump did was order the IRS to not enforce the penalties.

This means, you can not E-File or use any tax preparation services, and you must do your taxes, yourself if yo wish to not get penalized.

If you e-file, the company you use is still required to add the penalty to your tax return, since the law still requires them too. The same is true for companies like HNR Block, and other professional tax preparation companies.

So, unless you are doing your taxes by hand, you will still pay the penalties for not having health insurance.



Some are questioning whether the President even has the constitutional authority to order a government agency to refuse to enforce existing law. This could actually lead to abuse of power charges against Trump, if he's not careful.

 

The health insurance fine was eliminated by congress just last month. It takes effect with the 2018 tax returns. I haven't seen any evidence of Trump ordering anyone to ignore the law.

 

Some important details are left out here.

Obama never enforced the individual mandate. His system objectively requires the individual penalty to stay stable, but since it was not politically popular to fine people for not buying health insurance, he conveniently told the IRS not to enforce the penalty until after he left office.

So what we had is what Bill Clinton called 'crazy.' The optimal strategy for an individual was to not buy health insurance, wait to get sick, then buy in and get covered at the same cost as healthy people.

The burden fell on Trump to start enforcing the penalty in 2017. Trump doesn't look like someone who allows anyone to throw a party at his expense, so, predictably, he refused to enforce it either. By order, and then by legislation.

What we have today is a totally broken system, with no hope or consensus on how to restore sanity.

 

The executive order signed by Trump last year was an order to the IRS to not enforce the penalty on 2017 taxes.

This order does nothing unless you are doing your own taxes by hand. If you do them online or have a professional tax preparation firm do them for you, they are still require to subtract the penalty, and the IRS can't legally alter your tax return, all they can do it send the return back to you and have you make changes, so you are forced to take the penalty.

 

But you missed the fact that it was ended by congress by law last month. It goes into effect for the 2018 tax year. The fine is gone.

 

It’s gone via Congress for 2018 and beyond. Keep up.

 

The tax is unconstitutional in the first place so ....

"The Oath of Office: I do solemnly swear(or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

 

Psst, you file this years taxes at the end of the year.

Hope that helps.

P.S. Who is it making you pay the penalty? Was that Trump or someone else?

 

Really? I was penalized under Obama. So, I'm not sure where you got your information.

Obama agreed to postpone the individual mandate's penalties until from 2012 to 2016, and signed it into law when congress pass it. I was required to pay a penalty last year, and you will be required to pay one this year, unless you do your taxes by hand. Under Trump's orders, you can not be punished for not applying the penalty. But any professional tax preparation services, or online tax services, are still required to figure the penalty into your tax return. And the IRS isn't allowed to make changes to your return, meaning they can't simply subtract the penalties once you submitted the return to them.

 

It may be true that Obama's delay of the penalty was by legislation rather than order. I apologize.

But I'm pretty sure I heard on the radio in very early 2017 that Trump was not going to enforce the penalty for taxes filed in 2017, for tax year 2016. I don't know for sure since I had insurance.