ACA/Obamacare: Two Thirds of H&R Block Tax Filers Receiving ACA Subsidies Owe the IRS

CGI Federal, The Designers of the Bungled Healthcare.gov Rollout, Are Back! Back at the IRS

“The Internal Revenue Service is under investigation by an oversight subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee for signing a $4.46 million contract with a Canadian company called CGI Federal – despite the fact that the same company was responsible for the disastrous launch of HealthCare.gov.”

“Roskam reminded Koskinen that CGI Federal had already been fired by the Department of Health and Human Services, Vermont and Massachusetts for their failure to rollout websites associated with the Affordable Care Act in an efficient fashion.” - The IRS Hired the Same Company That Botched The Healthcare.gov Rollout, 01/24/2015, daily signal.com

Link to the entire article appears below:

http://dailysignal.com/2015/01/24/irs-hired-company-botched-healthcare-gov-rollout/?utm_source=heritagefoundation&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=saturday&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRolvKTMZKXonjHpfsX56OgvWa%2BylMI%2F0ER3fOvrPUfGjI4ET8RhI%2BSLDwEYGJlv6SgFQrLBMa1ozrgOWxU%3D

Ryan to IRS: You Work for the Taxpayer

Alan Dershowitz of Harvard regarding IRS Lerner: “You can't simply make statements about a subject and then plead the Fifth.”

IRS’ Affordable Care Act Office: Take a Wild Guess on the Official in Charge? Hint: Mad Hatter Tea Party.

"The Internal Revenue Service official in charge of the tax-exempt organizations at the time when the unit targeted tea party groups now runs the IRS office responsible for the health care legislation.

Sarah Hall Ingram served as commissioner of the office responsible for tax-exempt organizations between 2009 and 2012. But Ingram has since left that part of the IRS and is now the director of the IRS’ Affordable Care Act office, the IRS confirmed to ABC News today.


Her successor, Joseph Grant, is taking the fall for misdeeds at the scandal-plagued unit between 2010 and 2012. During at least part of that time, Grant served as deputy commissioner of the tax-exempt unit.

Grant announced today that he would retire June 3, despite being appointed as commissioner of the tax-exempt office May 8, a week ago.” - IRS Official in Charge During Tea Party Targeting Now Runs Health Care Office, John Parkinson, ABC News, 05/16/2013


Link to the entire ABC article appears below:


http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/05/irs-official-in-charge-during-tea-party-targeting-now-runs-health-care-office/

Obamacare or Glitch-o-care? All Schemes Unravel, Just Some Faster Than Others

The tax credits are geared toward low and middle-income Americans who do not have access to affordable health insurance coverage through an employer. The law specifies that employer-sponsored insurance is affordable so long as a worker's share of the premium does not exceed 9.5 percent of the worker's household income.

In its rule making, or final interpretation of the law, the IRS said affordability should be based strictly on individual coverage costs, however.

That means that, even if family coverage through an employer-based plan far exceeds the 9.5 percent cutoff, workers would not be eligible for the tax credits to help buy insurance for children or non-working dependents." - Little hope seen for millions priced out of health overhaul, Reuters, 03/26/2013

Oops!

Before this IRS ruling, if employee paid/responsibility/share of a group plan premium exceeded 9.5% of one's household income, one could then go to the exchange, price a policy, and receive assistance via subsidy.

Now, you can go to the exchange, but assistance is only for the employee not dependents. For example, the bronze plan is price X for the employee but X+3 for family coverage e.g. a spouse and two children. You received assistance on the X+3 premium before the ruling. After the ruling you receive assistance on X but not the +3.

The assistance is on a sliding scale depending on family income up to 400% of the poverty level i.e. $88.2k for a family of four. There is "twin" assistance: on the premium side AND the deductible/co-insurance side i.e. depending on income, one receives assistance lowering your out-of-pocket expense e.g. deductible and co-insurance equals X, your income is Y, X is then reduced to X - 1.

Link to the Reuters article appears below:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/26/us-usa-healthcare-taxes-idUSBRE92P17620130326



Update 04/07/2013: It's time to delay Obamacare, James Capretta and Yuval Levin, AEI, 04/04/2013

http://www.aei-ideas.org/2013/04/its-time-to-delay-obamacare/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+aei-ideas%2Fposts+%28AEIdeas+Posts%29

The IRS Goes Hollywood: The Star Trek Spoof

 

The Senate’s top tax-writer wants answers from the IRS about a “Star Trek” spoof that the tax-collecting agency has now apologized for making.

Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said Wednesday that the video production wasted taxpayer dollars at a time when the federal government was struggling to collect all the revenue it was owed. - Baucus to IRS: How did the 'Star Trek' video happen? Who's responsible?, The Hill, 03/27/2013


Link to the entire article appears below:

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/domestic-taxes/290635-baucus-to-irs-how-did-the-star-trek-video-happen