BigBoss1984

It's all good! Quick question in regards to medical insurance though - I saw on the wiki on this forum for health insurance that there are insurance providers for immigrants moving to the US who aren't yet full USC - I had a brief look and selected a start date and an end date that totalled up to just under a year in duration (363 days or something) and was quoted like $900 - that seems really cheap compared to other places I've been looking at - would that be annually or monthly? I'm looking to pay the medical insurance annually you see, rather than monthly

nun

It's best to keep track of your taxable income as the tax year goes along and adjust your estimated quarterly taxes so you don't pay a penalty for not paying enough at the end of the year. The penalties are not big, but why have to pay them.

I did some contracting work this year and I've only made one estimated tax payment because I estimate that will cover them all. You pay both income and payroll taxes with a single check.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040es.pdf

Also you will have to pay state taxes as well, but if you use a software package like Turbotax all the information from the Federal return will be transferred and it's really straight forward.

BigBoss1984

Thanks! Do I need to pay the state tax monthly or just with all my other taxes?

Pulaski

That interim insurance likely is not "ACA compliant", so you would be assessed a tax penalty for not having the sort of insurance mandated by the Affordable Care Act.

Noorah101

I don't think that one will apply to you, because you will be a US PR very soon (i.e. within 6 months of filing AOS). Your intent is not to be a visitor, but to live in the USA permanently (even if your plans change later on and you move back to the UK).

You probably need to get in touch with that company directly, explain your scenario, and see if that coverage would be for you. If it is, perhaps they will let you pay annually up front, rather than making monthly payments.

Someone mentioned that your soon to be spouse is a student. Most colleges have student medical insurance. You should first look into that to make a fair comparison.

Rene

Noorah101

With all the other taxes at the end of the year. As a self employed person, you don't pay any tax monthly. At most, you pay estimated quarterly taxes...and if you don't do that, you don't do anything until the end of the year when you file the 1040 tax return (and Schedule C for business).

Rene

Noorah101

Definitely this! I keep a spreadsheet going for my husband which shows his monthly income and business expenses. Then I just give that detailed spreadsheet to our CPA when we do our yearly tax return. Saves having to sort through a ton of receipts and all that at the end of the year!

Rene

Pulaski

IMO that is incorrect as the rules are similar to those for immigration to the US i.e. you need income, or failing that equivalent assets to sponsor a non-European spouse for a British immigration visa.

The argument that it is difficult is put around by those that think the required income level is too high (it is actually pretty low, barely more than I earned labouring in a warehouse and loading lorries in a small provincial city more than 25 years ago during the worst unemployment crisis since the great depression. It is also pretty much the same salary that my first employer was paying new graduates in the early 1990's). Similarly, the "assets" figure is higher than the US figure. The biggest complicating factor is that joint sponsors are not allowed.

sir_eccles

I think the argument is that is has suddenly got a lot higher than it used to be. Yes comparatively a low earnings threshold but if you have no job to go to it can be problematic.

nun

Yes the difficulty comes if you don't have a job to return to in the UK or you are low paid on something like a zero hours contract. That means that you will be separated from your family for sometime. If you are low waged you are effectively barred from bringing a non EU spouse into the UK unless you go the "Singh" route.

MarylandNed

For 2015, the HSA limit is actually $6650 for a family. There's a much lower limit of $3350 for a single person.

kodokan

Pulaski is probably thinking of premiums for employer-provided HSA coverage (or insurance costs are REALLY low in SC!). Your quote sounds about right to me.

Our ACA Bronze plan during a period of unemployment earlier this year was $715 a month for 2 adults mid-40s and 2 kids. The deductible on this was $6k/ $12k for individual/ family.

Our current employer-provided HSA plan is $170 a month with a comically low deductible, $1-2k or something. The amount the employer kicks in makes a HUGE difference, not to mention even that $170 were paying is pre-tax, so even 'lower' in real terms compared to after-tax private ACA payments.

On the plus side, going down the HSA route for some years previously gave us a nice pot of money to pay the Obamacare premiums, so they didn't have to come out of everyday savings (you can only do this if claiming unemployment benefit).

Pulaski

Without knowing how many people are covered, it isn't possible to determine whether the figures are high or low, though they seem on the high side to me, especially for a deductible of $13,000.

I don't know anything about medical insurance in SC as I have never lived there.

jenninedinburgh

Hi there,

I deleted my post as I worked out my error. It was for two of us (my husband and I) so I guess it looks about right for the bronze plan.

Thank you

kodokan

Oops, fixed it. How could I get the official BE Most Desirable State to Live wrong?