If you or a family member had a plan through the Health Insurance Marketplace, you will get a Form 1095-A. You do not file it, but you cannot file your return correctly without it.
This guide explains when it arrives, how to find it, what each part means, what to check before you file and how it feeds Form 8962, using IRS and HealthCare.gov guidance for 2025 coverage.
The IRS says Health Insurance Marketplaces furnish Form 1095-A to the IRS, to report information about people who enroll in a qualified health plan through the Marketplace, and to individuals so they can take the premium tax credit, reconcile the credit on their returns with advance payments of the premium tax credit and file an accurate return. The form says on its face: do not attach it to your tax return, keep it for your records. It comes from the Marketplace, not the IRS. If you enrolled through a state Marketplace, the form comes from that state. A Catastrophic plan is the exception to the rule that anyone with a Marketplace plan gets one.
| Item | What HealthCare.gov says |
|---|---|
| Mailing | By mid-February for coverage in 2025 |
| Online | As early as mid-January in your HealthCare.gov Marketplace account |
| Where to look | Log in, select your 2025 application (not 2026), choose Tax forms, then Download PDF |
| State Marketplace | The form comes from the state |
HealthCare.gov tells you not to file your taxes until you have an accurate 1095-A. If you get a corrected form, use it instead of the earlier version; if you get a voided form, do not use it to file (keep it as proof that coverage was canceled). If you already filed with an earlier version and then receive a corrected form, you may need to file an amended return; see our Form 1040-X guide.
| Part | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Part I | Recipient information: Marketplace identifier, policy number and issuer, recipient and spouse details, policy start and end dates |
| Part II | Covered individuals and their coverage start and end dates |
| Part III, column A | Monthly enrollment premiums |
| Part III, column B | Monthly second lowest cost silver plan (SLCSP) premium |
| Part III, column C | Monthly advance payment of the premium tax credit |
The column B figure matters most for reconciling the credit. HealthCare.gov says the SLCSP premium is incorrect if column B is 0 or blank for any month someone in your household had the Marketplace plan, or if you had household changes you did not report. The monthly enrollment premium in column A may differ from what you paid: it may cover only the essential health benefits part of the premium, may be prorated for a mid-month start or end, or may include a share of a stand-alone dental plan premium. If your name, address, date of birth or Social Security number is wrong you do not need a corrected form, because you can fix that on the forms you send the IRS.
You use the 1095-A to complete Form 8962, Premium Tax Credit, which compares the advance payments made for you with the credit you qualify for based on your final income. HealthCare.gov says that if you used too much you repay it through your taxes, and if you used too little you claim the difference as a credit. Our illustration: with advance payments of $400 a month ($4,800 for the year) and an allowed credit of $5,400, you claim an extra $600; with an allowed credit of $3,900 the excess is $900 before any repayment cap. The amounts that flow to your return depend on Form 8962 and its instructions, not on this example.
Repayment caps matter here. The IRS says that for tax years before 2026 a repayment cap may limit the excess advance payment you must repay, if your household income is under 400 percent of the federal poverty line. For tax years after 2025 there is no repayment cap, so you repay the full excess; that rule first applies to 2026 coverage, reported on returns filed in 2027 (IRS Fact Sheet FS-2025-10, December 2025).
You can get more than one 1095-A if you changed Marketplace plans during the year, updated your application so it created a new enrollment, had different household members on different plans, or had more than 5 members on one plan. If you get a 1095-A but did not have Marketplace coverage, contact the Marketplace Call Center: it may mean someone in your tax household enrolled, a reporting error or possible fraudulent enrollment. If you think a 1095-A is missing or wrong, contact the Marketplace. The IRS says Forms 1095-B and 1095-C have important differences from Form 1095-A and are provided by the entity that reports them to the IRS; see the IRS questions and answers on health care information forms.
IRS: About Form 1095-A, Health Insurance Marketplace Statement, IRS: Form 1095-A, HealthCare.gov: How to use Form 1095-A when you file your taxes.