The simple answer is "yes'! The slightly more complicated answer is 'most likely'. If you receive assistance with your premium, you need to update your income and deductions to ensure you are receiving the right amount of assistance - not too much - not too little. If you end of receiving too much assistance, then you have to pay a portion of that assistance back. Our goal is to help you avoid that headache.
As I'm writing this, there are 12 days left in this Open Enrollment Period to make sure your coverage and eligibility in Washington HealthPlanFinder is updated for the 2025 benefit year. Even if your plan is still working well for you and you have reviewed any cost changes for next year, you may be missing out on an important update. During tax-time, the most common call I receive is 'I just tried to file my taxes and I found out that I owe the IRS. My tax preparer told me it's because I haven't reported my income correctly in Washington HealthPlanFinder. Can you help?"
By the time our office receives this call, it is too late to make changes to the tax filing in question. Instead, we can only attempt to prevent the issue from occurring again. All this to say, this is the time to make sure your income is reported accurately for your 2025 coverage and that you are receiving the correct amount of premium assistance. The following common types of income should be counted:
Federal taxable wages,
Alimony from divorces and separations finalized before January 1, 2019,
Capital gains
Investment income,
Rental income,
Retirement and pension income,
Self-employment income,
Social Security,
Tips,
Unemployment compensation
Please give us a call at (360) 400-0530 if you have any questions or if you need assistance making changes and shopping for a new 2025 plan. We are here for you!
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