The Obamacare Penalty Tax

The Obamacare Penalty Tax

    The penalty/tax will be phased in from 2014 to 2016.

    The minimum penalty/tax in 2016 will be $695 per person and up to 3-times that per family. After 2016, these amounts will increase at the rate of inflation.

    The minimum penalty/tax per person will start at $95 in 2014 (and then increase through 2016)

    No family will ever pay more than 3X the per-person penalty, regardless of how many people are in the family.

    The $695 per-person penalty is only for those who make between $9,500 and ~$37,000 per year. If you make less than ~$9.500, you're exempt. If you make more than ~$37,000, your penalty is calculated by the following formula...

    The penalty is 2.5% of any household income above the level at which you are required to file a tax return. That level is currently $9,500 per person and $19,000 per couple. The penalty on any income above that is 2.5%. So the penalty can get expensive quickly if you make a lot of money.

    However, the penalty can never be more than the cost of a "Bronze" heath insurance plan purchased through one of the state "exchanges" that will be created as part of Obamacare. The CBO estimates that these policies will cost $4,500-$5,000 per person and $12,000-$12,500 per family in 2016, with the costs rising thereafter.

So, basically, you're looking at penalties of approximately the following at the following income levels:

    Less than $9,500 income = $0
    $9,500 - $37,000 income = $695
    $50,000 income = $1,000
    $75,000 income = $1,600
    $100,000 income = $2,250
    $125,000 income = $2,900
    $150,000 income = $3,500
    $175,000 income = $4,100
    $200,000 income = $4,700
    Over $200,000 = The cost of a "bronze" health-insurance plan

The IRS will collect the penalty-tax, a fact that will no doubt further enrage those who hate Obamacare.

But here's some more good news for those folks:

The IRS will not have the power to charge you criminally or seize your assets if you refuse to pay. The IRS will only have the ability to sue you. And the most the IRS can collect from you if it wins the suit is 2X the amount you owe. So if you want to thumb your nose at the penalty-tax, the IRS won't be able to do as much to you as they could if you refused to pay, say, income tax.

By the way, the following folks will be exempt from the penalty-tax:

    Those who make less than $9,500
    Employees whose employers only offer plans that cost more than 8% of the employee's income
    Those with "hardships"
    Members of Indian tribes
    Members of certain religions that don't pay Social Security tax, such as Amish, Hutterites, or Mennonites



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-is-the-obamacare-penalty-tax-2012-7#ixzz2CVMXBIqQ