Feb 24, 2015 / by Sara Hansard - Bloomberg BNA

MORE THAN HALF OF ACA SUBSIDY RECIPIENTS MUST REPAY SOME PORTION

Fifty-two percent of the clients seen by H&R Block Inc. who received subsidies through the Affordable Care Act in 2014 underestimated their income and must repay a portion of the subsidies, with the average repayment $530, according to a Feb. 24 release from the Kansas City, Mo.-based company. 

In addition, the average tax penalty for not having insurance was $172, an indication that most taxpayers are paying more than the flat fee of $95 per adult, said the company, the largest consumer tax services provider. The average tax refund for taxpayers who are having to repay subsidies would have been almost $3,100, but it was reduced about 17 percent due to the tax credit reconciliation process, the release said.

The company isn't scheduled to disclose how many customers it has seen until the week of March 2, company spokesman Gene King told Bloomberg BNA Feb. 23, but he said the number of clients it has worked with almost six weeks into the 2015 tax season is “in line with what we projected before the season started.” He said between 20 percent and 25 percent of the company's client base “had to file some kind of ACA form.” 

“The level of payback of the Advance Premium Tax Credit is significant in that it’s costing taxpayers a large percentage of their refund – a refund many of them count on to pay household expenses,” Mark Ciaramitaro, vice president of H&R Block’s health care and tax services, said in the release.

The Treasury Department has estimated that between 3 million and 6 million people will have to pay a penalty for not having insurance in 2014.

H&R Block issued a white paper, “The Affordable Care Act: 2014 Tax Filing Impacts” dated February 2015.