kimkooks

Hi, Please help! I have read and researched a ton but am still confused. I am sponsoring my mum to come here (I am USC) and am just waiting for interview date. Hopefully she will be here by Feb/March and she needs health insurance.

She is 63 and will get a job and ideally one that offers benefits but she will not have one before coming here and will not get one right away. When I put in her info for an idea of cost and subsidies for the health insurance through the exchange with a certain amount of income including tax exempt foreign income she would get the subsidy/credit. I'm not sure how she should show her income for 2018 or whether they accept her UK paystubs etc but as she is working until she moves here she would have enough foreign earned income from her job to allow her a monthly credit through ACA. With 0 income she has to pay an insane amount each month. Earning $12060-approx $48,000 for the year gives her a subsidy.

Has anyone been through this or know what they require to show foreign income?

Thanks for any advice.

SanDiegogirl

According to HealthCare.gov

Marketplace savings are based on your expected household income for the year you want coverage, not last year’s income. You must make your best estimate so you qualify for the right amount of savings.

So how can your Mother's earnings (which presumably were taxed in the UK for 2017 and which ended when she entered the US) be included as expected household income?

Your mother may not get a job for months, I don't see that she can obtain a health plan subsidised by the US tax payer, based on her (ended) UK income.

Also what can be included in estimated earnings is Excluded (untaxed) foreign income - again wasn't mothers income taxed in the UK.

kimkooks

Great points. It's 2018 income of hers that I'm asking about, not 2017 and that's the reason I'm wondering.. She'll work Jan-March and earn the equivalent of around $14000. She will also have some interest income but not much. So, as the ACA asks about 2018 income I definitely thought they'd be asking about this since it is not taxable in the US and it's 2018. She will have to enroll when she gets here around the end of March and I just want to be prepared for how to answer these questions. Is this what they mean by excluded (untaxable) foreign income?If not, what do they mean? Thanks!

SanDiegogirl

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/inte...n-requirements

Taken from the above website:

To claim the foreign earned income exclusion, the foreign housing exclusion, or the foreign housing deduction, you must have foreign earned income, your tax home must be in a foreign country, and you must be one of the following:

A U.S. citizen who is a bona fide resident of a foreign country or countries for an uninterrupted period that includes an entire tax year,
A U.S. resident alien who is a citizen or national of a country with which the United States has an income tax treaty in effect and who is a bona fide resident of a foreign country or countries for an uninterrupted period that includes an entire tax year, or
A U.S. citizen or a U.S. resident alien who is physically present in a foreign country or countries for at least 330 full days during any period of 12 consecutive months.

If your mother can qualify under any of the above, then, presumably, she can claim foreign earned income exclusion.

However, until such time as she can produce evidence of such, I would start planning and budgeting for monthly insurance premiums.

kimkooks

Thanks so much for that info. I've been on the ACA site all afternoon trying to figure it out and hadn't even got to IRS. She's budgeting for ridiculously high health care insurance costs, I just want to make sure we answer the questions correctly since I think she'll probably need to get ACA coverage initially at least until she gets a job.From what I understand, it's a bit different if your state expanded Medicaid coverage and ours hasn't.

Rete

Please do not take this the wrong way, but at your Mom's age, she is a few years younger than myself, it is going to be difficult to find full time work that offers benefits. When she is 65 she can buy into Medicare but that still is an expense. Good luck to her.

kimkooks

Not taking that the wrong way at all! She's only going to look at something part time and ideally only for something that offers some benefits. She's budgeted for this though so really her only expense is health insurance and she's continued working in a well paid job the past year purely to pay for that over here.

SanDiegogirl

Hopefully, if she is only looking for part time jobs, as these typically do not have comprehensive benefits, then she has adequate resources to provide for health insurance for a good many years.

Even when she gets to 65 and she is able to buy into Medicare Part A is currently $408.00 per month, part B is $134.00 per month - and that would be the basic she would have to pay.

kimkooks

Yes, there a few great places with part time benefits around here so will start there but ultimately are budgeting to pay in excess of $1200 a month initially for insurance. I actually didn't realize she could buy in to Medicare at 65 and thought she had to wait for 5? years. My head is spinning from reading up on all the immigration stuff right now so I should look into all this further to get my head around the options. Thanks for helping to explain.

scrubbedexpat099

Well who knows what the situation will be looking forward, I also thought it was 5 years and then obviously is mega bucks.

What does she do, I was also wondering about starting work in the US when you have no US experience and at that age?

I have seen many discussions on this subject but people seem to go away and we never find out what happened.

As I understand it it is a tax credit so you need to pay taxes to benefit. And need I thought to earn more than 12k to get the full benefit.

Something else that occurs, assuming she has to wait to buy into Medicare then will she also be hot with the late enrollment penalty?

As usual more questions than answers.

kimkooks

Well, just when you think you are getting answers there appear more questions! It seems that I could/should/perhaps apply for my mum through the ACA as my dependent with zero income but counting our household and income...possibly. We will have the same address.I would have to claim her as a dependent on my taxes and I'm not sure yet if that is best.It would result in a significant monthly subsidy. I'm assuming I can only do that if she isn't intending to work or at least doesn't intend to earn much. That may be best but it does seem crazy that it would basically cost her much more to work and that she would be best listed as my dependent in order to get health insurance for half the price. Crazy.

I played around with the ACA plan previews and this was a much better scenario. Is there any obvious reason she shouldn't be listed as my dependant?

scrubbedexpat099

How can it be zero income?

kimkooks

It wouldn't be zero income. It will be the income of myself and my spouse, kids and my mom (who at that point won't have a job or any income as pointed out earlier). Zero income doesn't result in any subsidy but we earn in that bracket where she would be able to receive a subsidy for healthcare costs. Well, as far as I can see. I put in our household, our income etc and those were the subsidies and plan scenarios it gave me for her coverage for our state. It is confusing and I don't know if she is supposed to be my dependent or not. Technically she won't have any income when she moves here and will be living in my house.

scrubbedexpat099

Remember it is adjusted on the total income so you need to be think what that figure will be for the year, so for example if the income goes up then the subsidy goes down. You mentioned she would be looking to work so if she does her contribution will not be nil.

kimkooks

I just filled out I-864 etc so I'm going on the amounts used for that so they're accurate. She was going to get a job to help pay for these health costs but that's the only reason. If it wasn't for health care costs she wouldn't be getting a job at all and would be enjoying being a grandma and adjusting to life in the US. I'd be paying for her to live here with us.It's a bit of a catch-22. Get a small job to help with health care costs or don't and be my dependent with cheaper health care costs.If she was to get one of those lovely part time jobs that offer benefits she would no longer need ACA coverage and I would change the circumstances on the application as required. Does that make sense? I'm just trying to figure out the most sensible option and it doesn't seem clear cut to me.