IRS: 7.5 Million Taxpayers Paid Penalty for Lacking Health Care

About 7.5 million taxpayers paid a tax penalty in the 2015 filing season because they didn’t have health insurance coverage, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said.

In a July 17 letter updating members of Congress on preliminary results of Affordable Care Act provisions from the 2015 filing season, Koskinen said those taxpayers paid a total of about $1.5 billion in individual shared-responsibility payments.

The payments averaged “around $200,” Koskinen said, adding that about 40 percent of the payments were $100 or less. Ninety-five percent of those taxpayers faced a penalty of $500 or less, he said.

Koskinen also said the vast ...