tax season with a broken family SUCKS
Just need to vent. Doubt any advice can be given. DH and I were married last year. It is now that joyous tax time, and DH is quite upset because he thought that since we were married for less then 6 months of 2016 that he would have one final year to file his taxes as "single". Not sure why he thought this. Anyway, I called a tax preparer who confirmed that no, even if you were married on Dec 31st you still must either file as "married filing jointly" or 'married filing separately". DH lost it and said he was going to be screwed out of his money, etc. Told him not to claim doom yet until we filed, lets just see what happens.
We went to file and it wasn't a pretty sight. First DH was mad because he realized I made more money then he did. Then when we filed together but didn't click 'submit', Something popped up on the screen saying 'because one of you has a family health plan, the single plan is void for your return.' Meaning even though my husband only has 'employee + child' insurance and I have my own, my single insurance doesn't count towards our return because apparently I'm expected to be on his healthcare. We called the tax advisor and she said there is no 'employee + child' option, it still counts as family in this state'.
Then we cleared all the forms and filed separate to see if that would be better, but in doing so DH couldn't get any credit for his student loan interest that he's been paying. We file together I get screwed, we file separate he gets screwed. He also doesn't get to claim his son because he only has him 46% of the time so the judge denied alternating years. I hate how we must be stereotyped together into "one family, one return, one health-plan!" DH is required to have health insurance coverage for his child because BM was on state healthcare (she refused to pay for insurance through work). He pays for all of it, and when ss has a bill beyond the coverage bm is supposed to pay 54% and dh pays the 46%. This hasn't been happening, she refuses to pay her share, and since the insurance isn't in her name we have the collectors calling us for the remainder of the bill she was supposed to be responsible for. We don't have the money to take her to court, so now there is a $9,000 dental bill that we may be stuck with. Starting to think we should have just stayed engaged for the rest of our lives. Sorry for the jumbled rant, just so frustrated with all of this.
We aren't being penalized,
We aren't being penalized, they just won't let my insurance count towards our refund. They say as long as one party has 'family coverage' (even though it isn't a family plan) it nullifies my insurance costs for our refund. I've called three people and have been told the same thing. Really doesn't seem fair. We can't afford my dh family plan, its about $400/month. Employee with child is significantly cheaper.
I'm a little confused. You
I'm a little confused. You don't get a refund for having insurance right? it's only a penalty if your NOT covered. I can't write off my ins premiums..
Not sure what it has to do
Not sure what it has to do with our refund either but we both have Health Savings Accounts that we put money into every paycheck, after I entered in all of my info for my account when I tried filing 'married filing separate' my refund jumped about $400. I wish we could afford a tax specialist, its so dang confusing.
what happened to your DH's
what happened to your DH's refund when he entered separate? I imagine it dropped by some amount right?
Yes it did, that's why he's
Yes it did, that's why he's so mad. Only his jumped when we filed together and he entered his student loan info. Filing separately mine jumped when I entered my health form. Its nuts.
It won't let me edit my last
It won't let me edit my last comment sorry. We both have insurance through our employers, his is employee + child and I just have a single plan for myself. Our state will let me have dh on my insurance but not my ss unless I adopt him. Makes no sense because my insurance is more affordable, but because he is not my biological child I am not able to do so. It's so stupid. Not sure if it is because of where I work or if its a state thing.
I am not sure that the state
I am not sure that the state has anything to say about who you carry on your employer provided health insurance if your employer considers your dependents as qualified.
I have never had a problem covering SS on my employer provided health plans. I would check your employer plan dependent eligibility guide lines to see if you can add DH and SS and then drop DH's. It may be your employer that requires the adoption and not the state. In my experience the states do not get that far into the weeds on blended family things unless a judge specifically chooses to go to weed level.
Our CO required that the BioDad cover the Skid with health insurance though he refused to do it for the first 9 years of the CO. I covered my wife and the Skid on my employer provided insurance and CO was amended to add half the cost of insuring SS to BioDad's CS.
After 9 years BioDad finally gained coverage for all of his spawn and because he was covering the younger three also out of wedlock spawn by two other baby mamas he also included SS in that coverage. After adding SS he tried to get his CS lowered by not having to pay half of my cost to cover the Skid. The Judge just laughed at him and required him to continue to pay for half of the Skid cost under my policy since my employer policy was top of the line and BioDad's was crap. Since he had three kids on his policy there was no difference in cost for BioDad to add or drop SS.
DH does have dental coverage
DH does have dental coverage for son. He had 6 cavities, 4 crowns, and 2-4 caps. That was the bill they sent us. I thought that was pretty steep too, no clue what is going on. Guess crowns and caps are expensive? He brushes his teeth every time he is over and we have mouthwash for him, no clue what bm has him do at home, she blames us for his teeth.
That bill sounds like at
That bill sounds like at worst case could be pre-insurance. You need to make sure it was put through properly with his insurance company by the dentist.
I just had two crowns done and I think that my after insurance amount due was about 700 dollars. The pre insurance "bill" was a lot higher
Was this dentist in his dental network? If not that can make the costs exorbitantly higher
That's a good point, thank
That's a good point, thank you I will ask dh. I honestly don't know, dh hasn't shared all of the details with me and bm didn't even tell us ss had a dental appointment until after she brought him in and asked dh for another copy of ss dental card. She was used to being able to go to her usual spot due to her state healthcare, it is a very good possibility that she didn't even look into it to see if it was in network.
My MIL used to work for a
My MIL used to work for a dental office. I raised a stink about it because it wasn't in network and the cost for us was a LOT more than if they had gone somewhere in network.
In my experience most dental
In my experience most dental coverage caps at ~$1,500/yr. The $9K sounds fairly accurate for that much work even once the $1,500 is consumed.
I had two root canals and crowns between Oct and Dec of 16. The first one cost me nothing out of pocket due to the negotiated coverage between my dentist and the insurance company. Two weeks after the first crown I experienced an abscess in the nerve of another tooth. Both were due to decay under old fillings that either entered the nerve canal or were so close that the filling could not be replaced without breaching the nerve canal. I have not had a new cavity in decades and get a lot of praise for my dental cleanliness when I go in for checkups.
When the first filling fell out I got the same input. My teeth are great, clean, and healthy. At least on the surface.
The second root canal and crown were done at the negotiated rates under insurance but were not covered because the first crown/root canal had consumed my annual benefit level.
The bill for the uncovered root canal and crown was bout $1800.
If your DH has a fairly typical dental plan the $9K sounds about right for the out of pocket bill.
At least in my recent experience.