Error on health care tax forms means more filing-season hassles

Published 4:02 pm Saturday, February 28, 2015

WASHINGTON — It’s not uncommon to feel some trepidation around tax-filing season. But there’s an added hassle this year for nearly a million consumers who got financial help with health insurance premiums under President Barack Obama’s law.

The government sent consumers erroneous information on forms that they need to complete their 2014 tax returns. Now they’re getting robocalls and emails advising them to delay filing until the mistakes get fixed.

Some are taking it in stride. Others wonder what else could go wrong.

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“It’s been a comedy of errors from the start,” said K.C. Crafts, a freelance financial writer from South Berwick, Maine.

The mistake the government made affected 800,000 customers receiving subsidized health coverage through the federal insurance market. Some states running their own insurance exchanges also have had tax-form troubles.