THIS is the end of the year, not the end of the world. I thank my God every morning I awake. Before we rush away from this festive season, I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas, a happy holiday, and I wish you all a very happy New Year! Time marches on whether we plan for it or not. And we only have a couple of business days left in this year! What is THE most important thing you still need to do before the clock turns from 2013 to 2014? Did you know that the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as “Obamacare”, requires we are all covered by minimum essential health insurance? And if you are not, you can be assessed a penalty? For 2014 will you (and the people in your family household) have healthcare coverage for the WHOLE YEAR? Coverage can be a combination of Medicare Part A, Medicaid (ACCHS in Arizona), Military Health Insurance (Tricare) an employer sponsored plan or insurance you buy on your own. This helps meet the “Shared Responsibility” part of the plan. If you do not have healthcare coverage for the entire year, you could be assessed a penalty. The penalty calculation formula is complicated. If I say there is a minimum penalty, will you realize that is the LOWEST it can be and that it is likely to be even higher?  The lowest 2014 penalty for a single person s $95. The penalty for a married couple starts at $190. As the size of the family grows, the penalty grows. And it gets bigger every year. If you are a low-income taxpayer, you may qualify for healthcare insurance premium assistance. Meaning that you could find the cost of your premium lowered by the assistance amount you qualify for. There are more complicated formulas in calculating the amount of credit that can be applied to your premium costs. And who is in charge of keeping tabs on all of this? IRS, of course. They have been granted the privilege, the responsibility, to make sure we are paying our fair share. Not only must we pay our fair share of income tax. We must also pay our fair share of healthcare insurance premiums. I am not a healthcare insurance provider. I am a tax return preparer. And now the insurance exchange agents will want to see your tax returns to determine how much premium assistance you might qualify for. Lower-income taxpayers might not have an INCOME TAX return requirement to file. BUT they may NOW have to file a return to prove they have paid their fair share of medical insurance premiums. So much is new. We are all learning. If you are under 65 years old (the minimum age for Medicare), you will want to check your health insurance coverage to avoid the penalty for not having shared enough of this new required program.   Always to your lowest legal tax,   Nellie T Williams, EA