What Is An ACA Specialist & How Can They Help Me?

Danielle (28) and Mike (29) are married. They have two children, Alex (4) and Alicia (7), who live with them all year. Danielle and Mike file a joint return and have combined wages of $18,800. They have no other income. The couple is not required to file a tax return, but do in order to claim the earned income and additional child tax credits. Neither Danielle nor Mike had health insurance coverage in 2014, but both children were covered through CHIP. Are they eligible for an exemption from health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA)?

If your head is spinning a little bit reading that, you are not alone. I have no clue what the answer is. I dug it out of one of the training manuals for our H&R Block tax professionals. It was nestled alongside pages and pages of information, including phrases like “bronze premium limitation,” “shared responsibility payment” and “year of marriage calculation.” It’s like a whole other language.

The good news is that we are training our tax professionals to help you navigate these tricky issues. An ACA Specialist is tax pros at H&R Block, that complete several hours of training, both online and in person, to help them be prepared. What’s more, if they run into a stumper question, our experts at The Tax Institute (they are attorneys, CPAs, former IRS agents and more) are just a call or a click away with more help.

By the way, the answer to that first question is yes, Mike and Danielle would be eligible for an exemption.

You can talk with these tax pros – no appointment necessary! – on January 8. Our offices will be open and available to talk all things Affordable Care Act. You can even get a free ACA Tax Impact Analysis that will tell you how you may be impacted by the ACA.

Prefer to figure this stuff out on your own? That’s OK! Check out our glossary of health care terms, browse frequently asked questions or use the tax calculator.

Finally, if you want to talk it out virtually, head on over to our Community health care forum and get answers from tax pros or chat with other people in your situation.