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Be careful when preparing your tax refund!

This season of tax refund, or as we commonly say “do your taxes”, be very careful with where you go and who prepares your refund. It is very important that you get your taxes done by a qualified and licensed tax preparer, since there are preparers who are cheating people by charging the Shared Responsibility Penalty (ACA noncoverage penalty), when this penalty does not apply to undocumented immigrants. If the fine applies to you as a citizen or legal resident, this penalty is paid directly to the IRS by being deducted from your refund and not paid directly to the tax preparer. This is what you should know about the Affordable Care Act and your tax refund:

  1. If you are an undocumented immigrant, you should know that the Affordable Care Act does not apply to you, and therefore the penalty for not having health insurance cannot be charged to you or deducted from your refund.
  2. If you are a citizen or legal resident and did not get medical coverage, you still have time to request an exemption or enroll during the special enrollment period and that way not have to pay the fee. The following link has more information about the exemption: https://www.healthcare.gov/taxes/.

For more information, visit the IRS website: http://www.irs.gov/Affordable-Care-Act. Don’t get screwed, get connected!