Form 1095-B reports health coverage from certain insurers or providers but does not perform premium tax credit reconciliation.
Form 1095-B reports health coverage from certain insurers or other coverage providers. In plain language, it is the health-coverage statement taxpayers may receive even though it does not handle Marketplace premium-tax-credit reconciliation.
Form 1095-B matters because taxpayers often receive one of the 1095 forms and assume they are all interchangeable. They are not. The practical reporting role of Form 1095-B is different from the Marketplace role of Form 1095-A.
It also matters because readers sometimes expect this form to calculate a credit. It does not. It reports coverage information.
Form 1095-B appears during return preparation as a health-coverage information statement. Taxpayers keep it with their filing records, but it does not substitute for Form 8962 when Marketplace credit reconciliation is required.
A taxpayer receives Form 1095-B from a coverage provider and wonders whether it should be used to claim the premium tax credit. The taxpayer then learns that the form documents coverage, while Marketplace credit reconciliation uses other forms.
Form 1095-B is not the same as Form 1095-A. Form 1095-A is the Marketplace statement used in premium-tax-credit reconciliation.
It is also not the same as Form 8962, which is the actual reconciliation form for the premium tax credit.