A few weeks ago, I noted that one of the numerous ACA-related provisions of the American Rescue Plan was this one:
Put simply, subsidized enrollees last year received around $6.3 billion in "excess subsidies"...they underestimated their income for the year 2020 and would normally be required to pay them back, but the ARP is waiving that "clawback" of overpayments for one year only in response to the pandemic.
Again, these are subsidies which were already paid out in 2020. The money is already in the hands of the enrollees (well, technically it's in the hands of the insurance carriers, but that in turn freed up an equal amount in the bank accounts of the enrollees, anyway). This provision simply says that the enrollees don't have to pay it back.
Of the estimated 12-13 million people who, in the end, appear to have enrolled in ACA exchange policies for this year, around 10-11 million of them are receiving federal tax credits, either as a monthly subsidy towards their premiums or as a "lump sum" tax rebate the following spring.
Either way, exchange enrollees will have to include two important new forms when filing their federal income taxes this year:
