IRS lacks clout to enforce Obamacare

HA HA!

After that whole historic battle to get Obamacare rammed through, it seems the IRS won't really have the ability to enforce the mandate forcing everyone to buy health insurance.

IRS lacks clout to enforce mandatory health insurance

The IRS processed more than 230 million tax returns last year, paid 127 million refunds and received about 68 million phone calls. The agency is responsible for enforcing a tax code that, at 71,000 pages, makes Anna Karenina look like a comic book.
Starting in 2014, the agency will have another task: making sure all Americans have health insurance. Under the law, Americans who can afford health insurance but refuse to buy it will face a fine of up to $695 or 2.5% of their income, whichever is higher. More than 4 million Americans could be subject to penalties of up to $1,000 by 2016 if they fail to obtain health insurance, the Congressional Budget Office said last week.

The IRS will be the enforcer — sort of.

While the IRS can impose liens or levies, seize property or seek jail time against people who don't pay taxes, it's barred from taking such actions against taxpayers who ignore the insurance mandate. In the arsenal instead: the ability to withhold refunds from taxpayers who decline to pay the penalty, IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said this month.

Still, compliance with the health reform law will be largely voluntary, says Timothy Jost, a law professor at Washington and Lee University. "By taking criminal sanctions and liens and levies off the table, the IRS' hands are tied, to a considerable extent."

The IRS is "being put in a position where it will be sending notices that will annoy people" and not much else, says James Maule, professor of law at Villanova University and author of the tax blog MauledAgain. "It's basically designed for failure."

Read more: USA Today

So does this mean that we can just ignore this stupid law?

Well, not quite. In order to thumb your nose at the government and get away with it, you will have to make sure you are not owed a refund from the IRS for 10 years after the year you go without health insurance:

How to Avoid ObamaCare in Two Easy Steps

Are you without health insurance? Do you resent being forced, under the latest unconstitutional round of federal meddling in the healthcare sector, to purchase insurance? Would you prefer to save your money or sink it into something with real value, such as gold? Believe it or not, under ObamaCare it is possible to do this without penalty.

Here’s how:

1. Don’t purchase health insurance.

2. Underpay your federal income tax throughout the year so that you aren’t owed a refund the following year — and keep doing this for 10 years thereafter.

Now here’s why: According to USA Today, the IRS is in charge of collecting the fines on those who don’t purchase health insurance — “up to $695 or 2.5% of their income, whichever is higher” — but it can only do so by withholding the money from a taxpayer’s refund. Ergo, no refund, no fine.

The only catch is that the IRS can withhold the money from any refunds for up to 10 years from the year in which the taxpayer reports not having health insurance; so if you choose not to buy insurance in 2015, be sure not to have any refunds coming your way until 2026.

Read more: The New American

[edit on 5/3/10 by FortAnthem]

I have a feeling I know what they are going to do to make sure everyone pays.

They will just set the rate of the with-holding so that everyone will get a refund. This way if you owe anything for health care, boom they have you.

Of course, if you have people like me, I usually figure out my taxes before the end of the year and set the with-holding to a specific value so that I do not owe anything or owe just a little.

Completely legal, it just makes the IRS pissed. They like those interest free loans through out the year.

Of course all IRS or tax advice given in this comment is completely for entertainment purposes. Any and all suggestions taken are the responsibility of the one taking them. There I go, covered my #.

reply to post by FortAnthem


I am sure it was planned this way. This is how they will bankrupt the health insurance industry and then rush in and "save" us by putting us all on government run healthcare.

See if you dont have to buy insurance and you wont get punished then why would you buy insurance if you can just go get it the first day you get a major illness or get in an accident? Since the insurance companies cant deny you for a preexisting condition or anything else for that matter then you are free to wait without worrying about not having insurance when you need it. Those Progressives are some sneaky SOB's, but I appreciate them creating a nice loophole for me,but not enough to ever vote for one.

reply to post by endisnighe


The folks who wrote the TNA article think the whole thing was DESIGNED to fail. The Health Care Bill was written to intentionally be ineffective so that they can push us into full-blown socialized health care down the line.

(By the way, if you’re concerned that choosing not to buy health insurance will doom you to outrageous medical bills should you require treatment, remember that you can always purchase a policy after you are diagnosed since the law also forbids insurers from refusing potential customers with pre-existing conditions or charging them higher rates. Yes, it’s designed to fail. When it does, the politicians will blame the failure on the market and say that since every other avenue except single-payer health insurance has been tried and found wanting, the only possible solution is full-blown socialized medicine. Leftists who support ObamaCare despite the fact that it is a sop to hated corporations may sound crazy, but they’re crazy like foxes.)

The New American