dellgra

This my first post on British experts so I hope I am in the right place.
We are currently applying for immigration to Florida and have almost reached the end of the first stage. As part of the preparation, I have been researching health insurance costs by using the Health 'marketplace ' where various policies by Blue X, Ambetter, are displayed according to your personal details entered. Our income includes an Armed Forces, Police and 2 UK State pensions. In the US (Florida) do all of these count as income or just the Armed Forces and Police pensions? Furthermore, do I input the gross figure or net, as all tax shall be deducted automatically in the UK before we receive it.

Rete

This is your 4th post and this isn't British Experts but British Expats.

Sorry but I've never had to use the healthcare marketplace for insurance. Someone will be along to help you out but it might take awhile as there is nothing in your subject line to indicate what you are posting about.

My thought is that it is gross income, before deductions. Are either of the "we" in your post a US Citizen? What visa have you applied for that you have reached the first end of?

dellgra

Thanks for your prompt reply. Sorry about the 'expert's - predicted text!! I should have proof read before posting. As for the previous posts I don't recall them but I shall check.
​​​​​​As for our immigration type, our daughter, now a US citizen, is "claiming" us. We started last May and it uspually takes 8 months for the first stage and if successful a further 2 months for the medical, interviews etc.
With regard to our pensions I didn't know if our State Pensions were equivalent to the US social security benefits. We have a lot to learn but I'm sure we shall get there.

Pulaski

Your daughter isn't "claiming" you, she has sponsored you for a visa that will lead to permanent residence aka "a green card", upon entry to the US.

​​​​​​​And yes, your British state pensions are equivalent income to US Social Security. All income figures should be given gross because US income tax is an unholy mess and leads to wildly varying net income.

dellgra

Thank you for that Pulaski. Yes, correct term should have been sponsor. I needed the clarification so that I could get a reasonable accurate quote for health insurance when I used the healthcare.gov website and entered my income details. Thank you once again for your reply.
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mrken30

I think government pensions are treated differently in some scenarios. Hopefully iansbury will come along and answer this question.

Winston_the_Great_Dane

A word of warning - be very careful when using the healthcare.gov website to estimate costs. I put in my income details and got a 'reasonable' premium on which I based my calculations. When I entered my details for real, the price was much (X3) higher.

It actually worked out to be more cost effective to take an insurance outside of the marketplace for my family.

Tax and healthcare are complicated.

Edit to add: I'm pretty sure you have to pay the full rate on the healthcare and are not eligible for tax subsidy as a condition of the affidavit of support.

Good luck

Pulaski

​​​​​​​Government pensions are usually taxed at source no matter in which country you live, but that doesn't impact the applicable value for health insurance purposes, which is the gross value.

Nutmegger

Giantaxe

That's correct. However that's not true of military (and maybe police - lansbury will know - pensions) which will be taxed by the UK and not by the US. But I think it's all moot anyway: according to this chart, not only is taxable pension income counted, so is "Excluded (untaxed) foreign income". So I believe the OP will have to include all their income from pensions in the ACA subsidy calculation:

https://www.healthcare.gov/income-an...mation/income/

Edit: otoh, maybe that "Excluded (untaxed) foreign income" is a reference to the foreign earned income exclusion. Hmmm.

lansbury

If you only have British Citizenship and are living in the USA, your Armed Forces and Police Pensions can only be taxed in the UK. They are Government Service Pensions. If in the future you become US citizens and live in the USA they can only be taxed in the US. The UK/US Tax Treaty is very specific about how Government Service Pensions are taxed.

Your 2 UK State Pensions should be paid to you without income tax being deducted at source, and would then be taxed in the USA. You would need to list them on your US tax return.