How to Allocate 1095-A Premiums for a Non-Dependent

If your Marketplace plan covered someone who isn’t in your tax family — an adult child you don’t claim, a domestic partner, or anyone else who files their own return — you and that person split the amounts on Form 1095-A before either of you finishes Form 8962. To allocate 1095-A premiums for a non-dependent, you agree on a single percentage between 0% and 100% and apply it to both the enrollment premium and the advance premium tax credit (APTC) for the months you shared coverage; each of you then looks up your own second lowest cost silver plan (SLCSP) premium instead of splitting the one printed on the 1095-A. The two returns must add up to 100% of the policy.

Who Counts as a Non-Dependent Here

Your tax family for Premium Tax Credit purposes is you, your spouse if you file jointly, and anyone you claim as a dependent. Anyone on the plan who falls outside that group is a non-dependent for allocation purposes, and their presence on your policy is what triggers the split.¹

One case that looks like it needs allocation but doesn’t: a child who is eligible to be claimed as your dependent stays in your tax family even if you choose not to claim them and even if they file their own return. You include the child in your household on your Form 8962, and the child does not file a separate Form 8962 for that policy.² Allocation only comes into play when the other enrollee is not eligible to be your dependent at all.

The IRS calls the non-dependent scenario “Allocation Situation 4.” It’s the catch-all for shared policies that aren’t divorces, aren’t married-filing-separately returns, and did receive some APTC during the year.³

What Actually Gets Split

Two of the three monthly figures on the 1095-A get allocated: the enrollment premium (column A) and the APTC (column C). The SLCSP premium (column B) does not get split. Each tax family looks up its own SLCSP independently and enters that figure directly on Form 8962. This is the step most people miss, and it’s the difference between a correct return and a notice from the IRS.³

Choosing the Percentage

You and the other filer can pick any allocation from 0% to 100%, and the same percentage applies to both the enrollment premium and the APTC in a given month. A common arrangement is for the person who was originally responsible for paying the premium to take the larger share, but the IRS doesn’t require any particular reasoning behind the split. What it does require is that the two returns agree.²

If you can’t agree, there’s a default. The non-dependent’s share is the number of individuals in their tax family who were enrolled in the plan, divided by the total number of enrolled individuals. Your share is whatever’s left. So a plan covering three people in your household plus one independent adult child defaults to 25% for the child and 75% for you.

You can also allocate 100% to one filer and 0% to the other. The person who gets 0% doesn’t need to file Form 8962 for that policy at all, which can simplify things when one filer had no involvement with the coverage decisions.

Look Up Your Own SLCSP

The SLCSP printed on the 1095-A was calculated for the full group of enrollees. Once the policy is split for tax purposes, that number no longer describes either household. Each family needs the SLCSP that corresponds to its own ages, location, and coverage family size.

If you enrolled through the federal Marketplace, use the tax tool at HealthCare.gov/tax-tool/ to pull the correct figure.⁴ State exchanges have their own lookup tools; Publication 974 walks through the process if yours doesn’t. Enter the result on Form 8962 lines 12 through 23, column (b). Do not enter a percentage in column (f) of Part IV — that column is for the divorce situation only, and using it here will produce the wrong credit.³

Only the Overlap Months

Allocation covers only the months the plan actually enrolled members of both tax families. If the non-dependent was on your policy from January through June and dropped off in July, you split only those six months. For July through December, you use the full 1095-A amounts on your own Form 8962 with no allocation at all. The start and end months you enter in Part IV define this window.

Filling In Part IV of Form 8962

Both filers file their own Form 8962, and both report the shared policy in Part IV on lines 30 through 33. Each line handles one policy; use a second line if you’re splitting more than one plan with different people.³

Column (a): the policy number from line 2 of your 1095-A. If it runs longer than 15 characters, use the last 15.
Column (b): the Social Security number of the other filer.
Column (c): the first month of shared coverage, entered as two digits (01 for January).
Column (d): the last month of shared coverage.
Column (e): your share of the enrollment premium, as a decimal. 40% is 0.40.
Column (f): leave blank. This column is only used in divorce cases.
Column (g): your share of the APTC, as a decimal, using the same percentage you put in column (e).

Your percentage and the other filer’s percentage have to add up to 100% for each column you filled in. The IRS cross-checks the two Forms 8962. If the numbers don’t reconcile, both filers can expect a notice.

2026: No More Repayment Cap

Through the 2025 tax year, filers under 400% of the federal poverty line who received too much APTC had their repayment capped. A single filer below 200% of poverty owed back no more than $375; a family between 300% and 400% was capped at $3,250. Section 71305 of Public Law 119-21 eliminates that cap for tax years beginning after December 31, 2025.⁵

Starting with the 2026 return, if your allocated APTC exceeds the credit you actually qualify for, you repay the full difference regardless of income. An allocation that pushes too much APTC onto the wrong return could produce a bill in the thousands with no ceiling. Coordinating the split with the other filer before either of you files becomes a much bigger deal.

If You Skip Reconciliation or Get It Wrong

Not filing Form 8962 after receiving APTC doesn’t cancel your Marketplace plan, but it does cost you future help. The IRS blocks advance premium tax credits and cost-sharing reductions for the next year’s coverage until you reconcile.¹

An incorrect allocation that understates your tax also opens the door to the accuracy-related penalty of 20% on the underpayment.⁶ With the repayment caps gone in 2026, the underlying bill can already be large, and a 20% penalty on top of it makes coordination worth the phone call. Agree on the percentage with the other filer, verify each of your SLCSP figures independently through the Marketplace tax tool, and confirm the two returns add to 100% before either of you submits.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Reconciling Your Advance Payments of the Premium Tax Credit
2
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 974 (2025), Premium Tax Credit (PTC)
3
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8962 (2025)
4
HealthCare.gov. Health Coverage Tax Tool
5
Congress.gov. Public Law 119-21
6
Internal Revenue Service. Accuracy-Related Penalty