The federal government announced Friday (Feb. 20) that it will implement a special enrollment period for people who learn, at the time they file their taxes, of the Affordable Care Act-mandated tax penalty for not having health insurance.

This special enrollment period will allow people to sign up from March 15 to April 30. Americans who did not have health insurance in 2014 may owe a fine of $95 or as much as 1 percent of their income. If they remain uncovered in 2015, the fine could rise to 2 percent of their income for the 2015 tax year.

The U.S. Treasury estimates that as many as 6 million people may owe the penalty for not having insurance in 2014.

Those eligible for the special enrollment period must:

• Live in states with a federally-facilitated marketplace (this includes Maine)
• Currently not be enrolled in coverage through the FFM for 2015
• Attest that when they filed their 2014 tax return they paid the fee for not having health coverage in 2014
• Attest that they first became aware of, or understood the implications of, the Shared Responsibility Payment after the end of open enrollment (February 15) in connection with preparing their 2014 taxes.

Resources:

• Call us at 855-710-5700.
• Allen Insurance and Financial's online enrollment portal.
• Healthcare.gov - income tax info for 2014.

Allen Insurance and Financial is an independent, employee-owned insurance and financial planning services agency with offices in Rockland, Camden, Belfast and Southwest Harbor.  Online: AllenIF.com