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December 10, 2024
Question

I was labeled as a partner instead of a spouse on my wife’s work insurance

  • December 10, 2024
  • 1 reply
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I got married in July and just found out this week that we were being charged double for insurance because I was labeled as a partner instead of a wife in her insurance. We were married on the 14th and as of the 17th we submitted the documents to show that we were married. They just never updated it on their side. Now, I don’t know what to do because it was $352 a month extra that they won’t give us back, and I don’t know if we can even get it back through our taxes. They say we can get it back but they keep changing up what they tell us everytime we call. 
They called it imputed income/taxes and I’ve looked into it some but can’t make sense of it. We shouldn’t have been labeled under it to begin with because we were married. 
Any help would be appreciated! 

1 reply

Employee
December 10, 2024

There is no tax procedure to fix this.  There are some things you could attempt but they would be red flags for an audit, and I would not mess around with this problem unless you hire your own tax professional who will represent you if audited.

 

I think you need to go after the employer.  If you enrolled your spouse during the proper open enrollment period (or proper life event period) and with the correct documentation, I would think you have a legal claim against them if they don't fix the problem.  And they certainly can fix it, both on their tax filings and your W-2.  It's a bit complicated and if it is a small employer they might not want to bother, or if they are using a payroll company they might not want to argue with the payroll company.  And fixing this will save them money as well, so I don't understand why they won't fix it, as long as you submitted the proper documentation when you enrolled.  But they certainly can fix it if they want to.  If the company won't help, I would contact your state labor regulator.

 

Of course, if you anger your employer you might be out of a job.  That's a tough calculation to have to go through.  Fight, maybe get a lawyer, or try to backdoor it on your tax return and hire an accountant to help.

Sam2717Author
December 10, 2024

We did submit it under a life event. When I called they said they would open a case and escalate it to corrections for my taxes, but I didn’t know if there was anything I could do. That took several calls to get them to even do that. They just kept telling me they don’t do refunds on overcharges and I would have to go through my taxes and the IRS