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February 24, 2020
Question

Form 8962 and 2019 Federal Poverty Level (FPL)

  • February 24, 2020
  • 2 replies
  • 0 views

During the year 2019 I checked Healthcare.gov, hhs.gov, and FederalRegister.gov for the "official" Federal Poverty Level and all documents indicated that for a family of 2, the 2019 FPL would be $16,910.  Low and behold, the 2019 Form 8962 instructions say the FPL is actually $16,460.  It makes a huge difference when using 400% of the FPL as the AGI limit.  Do I have any recourse?

    2 replies

    ColeenD3
    February 24, 2020

    That is nothing TurboTax can advise you on. That pertains to a completely different government agency from the IRS. 

    March 15, 2020

    Then TurboTax should update their information in their program, you think?

    March 18, 2020

    TurboTax would have to abide by what is listed in the instructions for form 8962 until which time they were updated, as that would be the authoritative source.

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    March 18, 2020

    The law says that calculating the Premium Tax Credit for one tax year uses the previous year's Federal Poverty Level.  So as you found out, the 2019 tax return uses the Federal Poverty Level for 2018 ($16,460 for a family of two).  So the program is accurate, and you were misinformed as to what numbers to use.  The 2019 Federal Poverty Level ($16,910 for a family of two) is used for 2020 tax returns (filed early in 2021).