What Is Form 1095-A and How Does It Affect Your Taxes?

Form 1095-A is the Health Insurance Marketplace Statement you receive when you or a family member had coverage through HealthCare.gov or a state-based exchange during the year.¹ It reports your enrollment months, monthly premiums, and any advance premium tax credits (APTC) paid to your insurer on your behalf. You use those numbers on IRS Form 8962 to reconcile the advance credits against the credit you actually qualify for based on your final income, which either increases your refund or adds to what you owe.

Who Gets a 1095-A

If you or anyone on your tax return enrolled in a qualified health plan through the Marketplace at any point in the year, you get a 1095-A, even if you never received any financial assistance.¹ Enrollment alone triggers the form. Each tax filer on a Marketplace policy receives a separate 1095-A covering their own tax family.

You do not get a 1095-A for coverage through an employer, Medicare, Medicaid, or CHIP. Those programs report on Form 1095-B or 1095-C instead.

What’s On the Form

The form has three parts. Parts I and II identify you and list every person covered under the policy, along with the policy number and coverage dates.²

Part III is the section that drives your tax return. For each month, it shows three dollar figures:

Column A: your enrollment premium.
Column B: the premium for the second-lowest-cost Silver plan (SLCSP) available to you. This is a benchmark used to size your credit and is not necessarily the plan you enrolled in.³
Column C: the advance premium tax credit paid to your insurer on your behalf.⁴

When It Arrives and What to Check

The Marketplace must send your Form 1095-A by January 31 of the year after your coverage year.⁵ The paper copy usually arrives by mid-February. A digital version is generally available in your HealthCare.gov or state Marketplace account between mid-January and February 1.⁶

Before you use the form, verify:

Social Security numbers and birth dates for every covered person.
Coverage start and end months match when you were actually enrolled.
The SLCSP figure in Column B looks reasonable for your area and household size. An incorrect SLCSP throws off the entire credit calculation.
The APTC amounts in Column C match what you expected each month.

If anything is wrong, contact the Marketplace that issued the form, not the IRS, and ask for a corrected 1095-A. For federal Marketplace plans, call 1-800-318-2596.⁷ Wait for the corrected form before filing.

If the form never arrives and is not in your online account, contact the Marketplace. The IRS cannot issue or reissue it. The IRS recommends waiting for the form because you need the Part III numbers to file accurately.⁸

Using Form 1095-A to Reconcile Your Premium Tax Credit

If you received advance premium tax credits during the year, you must file Form 8962 with your federal tax return.⁹ You copy the monthly enrollment premium, SLCSP, and APTC amounts from Part III of the 1095-A into the corresponding lines of Form 8962.¹⁰

Form 8962 compares the advance credits you already received against the credit you actually qualify for based on your final household income. Two outcomes are possible:

Your income came in lower than estimated at enrollment: you likely received less in advance payments than you were entitled to, and the difference increases your refund.
Your income came in higher than estimated: your advance payments exceeded your actual credit, and the difference is added to your tax bill.

No Repayment Cap Starting in 2026

Through tax year 2025, the amount of excess advance credits you had to repay was capped at figures ranging from $375 to $3,250 depending on income and filing status. Those caps are gone starting with the 2026 tax year. Section 71305 of Public Law 119-21 eliminated all repayment limits for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2025.¹¹ If your 2026 advance payments exceed your actual credit, you owe the full excess regardless of income.

That makes accurate income estimation at enrollment more consequential than in prior years. Under-report your projected income and you could face a significantly larger bill at tax time than the same situation would have produced under the old capped rules.

The 400 Percent Income Ceiling Returns

From 2021 through 2025, temporary legislation let households above 400 percent of the federal poverty level qualify for premium tax credits. That expansion was not renewed. For 2026, the credit is again available only to households at or below 400 percent of FPL.¹² If your final income crosses that line, you lose eligibility for the credit entirely and owe back every dollar of advance payments you received.

Report Life Changes During the Year

Because the reconciliation math depends on your final income and household, changes during the year matter. A raise, a new job with employer coverage, marriage, divorce, or the birth of a child can all change the credit you actually qualify for. Report these changes to the Marketplace as soon as they happen.¹³ The Marketplace then adjusts your advance payments so monthly amounts stay closer to what you’ll be entitled to.

If you skip that step and your income rises, you keep collecting APTC you’re not entitled to, and with no 2026 repayment cap, you owe the full excess back. If your income drops or your household grows, reporting can raise your subsidy or move you to Medicaid or CHIP.¹⁴

Shared Policies After Divorce or Separation

When two or more tax filers are covered under a single Marketplace policy, each filer receives a separate 1095-A listing only their own tax family, and the premiums shown reflect an allocation rather than the full policy premium.¹⁵

If advance credits were paid on a shared policy, each taxpayer allocates the enrollment premium, SLCSP, and APTC between the returns using Part IV of Form 8962. You and the other filer can agree on any allocation percentage, but the same percentage has to apply to all three amounts for each month. If you cannot agree, the IRS applies a default formula based on the number of enrolled individuals in each tax family.¹⁰

What Happens If You Don’t Reconcile

Skipping reconciliation, either by not filing a return or by filing without Form 8962, creates problems that compound.

Your refund is delayed. If you file without Form 8962, the IRS holds the return and sends you Letter 12C asking for the missing form. The refund typically follows six to eight weeks after the IRS receives it.⁹
You may lose future advance credits. Failure to file and reconcile can end your eligibility for APTC in future years, leaving you responsible for the full monthly premium.¹⁶
You still owe any excess advance payments from the unfiled year. For 2026 and later, there is no cap on that amount.¹¹

Filing an extension does not exempt you from reconciliation. You still include Form 8962 when you eventually file.¹⁶

State Coverage Rules

The federal penalty for not having coverage has been $0 since 2019.¹⁷ Some states and the District of Columbia enforce their own individual coverage requirements with financial penalties. If you live in one of those places, your 1095-A can serve as proof of qualifying coverage. Check your state tax agency for any additional forms that go alongside the federal 1095-A.

1
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1095-A, Health Insurance Marketplace Statement
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Internal Revenue Service. Form 1095-A – Health Insurance Marketplace Statement
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HealthCare.gov. Second Lowest Cost Silver Plan (SLCSP) – Glossary
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Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1095-A
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Internal Revenue Service. Questions and Answers About Health Care Information Forms for Individuals
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HealthCare.gov. How to Use Form 1095-A, Health Insurance Marketplace Statement
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Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Form 1095-A Corrected Cover Letter
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Internal Revenue Service. Health Insurance Marketplace Statements
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Internal Revenue Service. Reconciling Your Advance Payments of the Premium Tax Credit
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Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8962
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Internal Revenue Service. Updates to Questions and Answers About the Premium Tax Credit
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 36B – Refundable Credit for Coverage Under a Qualified Health Plan
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Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Report Life Changes When You Have Marketplace Coverage
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HealthCare.gov. Reporting Income, Household, and Other Changes
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Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1095-A (2025)
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Internal Revenue Service. Premium Tax Credit – Claiming the Credit and Reconciling Advance Credit Payments
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HealthCare.gov. Exemptions From the Fee for Not Having Coverage