The premium tax credit can help make purchasing health insurance coverage more affordable for people with moderate incomes. To be eligible for the credit, you generally need to satisfy three rules.
First, you need to get your health insurance coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace.
Second, you need to have household income between one and four times the federal poverty line. For a family of four for tax year 2019, that means income from $25,100 to $100,400.
Third, you can’t be eligible for other coverage, such as Medicare, Medicaid, or sufficiently generous employer-sponsored coverage.
If a Marketplace determines that you’re likely to qualify for the tax credit at the time you enroll, you have two choices: You can choose to have some or all of the estimated credit paid in advance directly to your insurance company to lower what you pay out-of-pocket for your monthly premiums during 2019. Or, you can wait to get all of the credit when you file your 2019 tax return in 2020.
If you wait to get the credit, it will either increase your refund or lower your balance due.