Form 1095-B does not go anywhere on your federal tax return. There is no line, no box, and no attachment for it on Form 1040. Since the federal penalty for going without health insurance dropped to $0 starting in 2019, the IRS no longer collects the coverage information this form reports. Keep it with your tax records. The one exception: if you live in a state that runs its own health insurance mandate, the coverage months on your 1095-B feed into your state return.
Why Nothing Goes on the Federal Return
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 set the federal shared responsibility payment to $0 for months beginning after December 31, 2018.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 5000A – Requirement to Maintain Minimum Essential Coverage With no penalty to calculate, the IRS has no reason to ask about your coverage. Starting with the 2019 tax year, the “full-year health care coverage or exempt” checkbox was removed from Forms 1040 and 1040-SR entirely.2Internal Revenue Service. Gathering Your Health Coverage Documentation for the Tax Filing Season
Do not attach Form 1095-B to your federal return.3Internal Revenue Service. Questions and Answers About Health Care Information Forms for Individuals Whether you were covered all year, part of the year, or not at all, your federal filing looks the same. The form exists for your records and, in some states, for your state return.
Don’t Confuse It With Form 1095-A
This is where filers get tripped up. Form 1095-A looks similar and arrives around the same time, but it is a different document with different rules. If you bought coverage through the federal or state Marketplace, you received Form 1095-A, and that one does have to be entered on your federal return. Anyone who received advance premium tax credit payments must file Form 8962 to reconcile those credits, even if they otherwise wouldn’t need to file.4Internal Revenue Service. Form 1095-A – Health Insurance Marketplace Statement Skipping that step can hold up a refund or trigger a bill.
Form 1095-B carries none of those obligations. If a 1095-B is the only health form you received, you can file federally without entering any coverage information.
When Your State Return Needs the Information
Five jurisdictions currently enforce their own individual health insurance mandates: California, the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. If you live in one of them, the monthly coverage boxes in Part IV of your 1095-B are the data you’ll transfer to your state form. Verify those months match your actual coverage before you file. If your insurer reported January through December but you actually lost coverage in October, request a corrected form.
California
California residents report coverage on Form FTB 3853, which calculates the state’s Individual Shared Responsibility Penalty. The months from Part IV of your 1095-B go into Part III of Form 3853. For the 2025 tax year filed in 2026, the minimum penalty runs at least $950 per uninsured adult and $475 per uninsured child under 18, or 2.5% of household income if that produces a larger figure.
New Jersey
New Jersey filers attach Schedule NJ-HCC to the NJ-1040. Part I asks whether everyone in the household had coverage every month; a “no” moves you into monthly reporting that mirrors your 1095-B. The penalty is the greater of $695 per uninsured adult and $347.50 per child, or 2.5% of taxable income above the filing threshold, capped at $3,492.
Rhode Island
Rhode Island uses Form IND-HEALTH along with the Shared Responsibility Worksheet, and the resulting penalty is reported on Form RI-1040, line 12b. For 2025, the flat amounts are $57.92 per month per uninsured adult and $28.96 per month per uninsured child, with the final penalty being the greater of the flat calculation or 2.5% of income above the filing threshold. The total is capped at the cost of an average bronze plan, $357 per month for 2025.
Massachusetts
Massachusetts works differently. The state uses its own Form 1099-HC rather than the federal 1095-B, and the data feeds Schedule HC on your state return. If you received a 1095-B but not a 1099-HC, contact your insurance carrier, because the 1099-HC is the form Massachusetts requires.
District of Columbia
DC has enforced its own mandate since 2019, with penalties originally structured to mirror the former federal formula. DC residents who went without qualifying coverage owe a shared responsibility payment calculated on the DC return. Check the current DC instructions for the schedule where coverage months are reported and the penalty amounts in effect.
If You Never Received a 1095-B
Starting with the 2024 tax year, insurance providers are no longer required to mail Form 1095-B automatically. They can meet the rule by posting a clear notice on their website telling you how to request a copy. Once you ask, the provider must send it within 30 days or by January 31 of the following year, whichever is later.5Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Forms 1094-B and 1095-B
If the form hasn’t arrived by the time you’re ready to file, don’t wait. The IRS tells filers to use whatever coverage information they already have.3Internal Revenue Service. Questions and Answers About Health Care Information Forms for Individuals Your own records, insurance cards, or online insurer account can confirm your coverage months. If you live in a mandate state, it is worth requesting the form directly rather than waiting to see whether it turns up.
If the Form Has Errors
When coverage months on your 1095-B don’t match your actual insurance history, contact the insurance provider or employer that issued it. The IRS cannot correct the form itself.6Internal Revenue Service. Questions and Answers on Information Reporting by Health Coverage Providers (Section 6055) Common problems include months listed after you canceled a policy, misspelled dependent names, and wrong Social Security numbers.
For federal purposes, an error is not urgent, because the data doesn’t touch your return. For a state mandate return, an incorrect form could mean reporting uncovered months you actually had insurance for and paying a penalty you don’t owe. Request a corrected form promptly, and if you need to file before it arrives, use your own records of coverage: payment confirmations, enrollment letters, or ID cards showing effective dates.
How Long to Keep It
Keep Form 1095-B for at least three years after filing the return it relates to, which matches the general IRS statute of limitations for audits and assessments.7Internal Revenue Service. How Long Should I Keep Records In a mandate state, hold it at least as long as the state’s audit window stays open, typically three to four years. The form is your proof of coverage if any tax authority asks.8Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 305, Recordkeeping