Kaiser 1095-A: Who Sends It, How to Get It, and Form 8962

If you had a Kaiser Permanente health plan through the Health Insurance Marketplace, your Form 1095-A comes from the Marketplace where you enrolled, not from Kaiser. Kaiser is the insurance carrier; the exchange that sold you the plan is responsible for generating and delivering the form. You need it to reconcile any Premium Tax Credit you received when you file your federal return, and filing without it can delay your refund or trigger IRS follow-up.

Why Kaiser Doesn’t Send the 1095-A

Kaiser Permanente participates in several state and federal Marketplaces as a carrier offering qualified health plans. The Marketplace itself handles enrollment records, subsidy calculations, and tax reporting. So the entity that issues your 1095-A is the exchange where you signed up: Healthcare.gov if you’re in a state that uses the federal platform, or a state-based exchange in states like California, Colorado, or Washington.¹

Calling Kaiser about a missing or incorrect 1095-A won’t help. Kaiser doesn’t hold that data.

How to Get Your Form 1095-A

Marketplaces must mail the 1095-A by January 31 following the coverage year, so paper copies typically arrive by mid-February. Digital copies are usually available by January 31.²

If you enrolled through Healthcare.gov, log in, open the application for the correct coverage year (not the following year’s application), click “Tax Forms,” and download the PDF under “Your Form 1095-A.” If a version labeled “Corrected” appears, use that one.¹ If you enrolled through a state exchange, log into that exchange and look in your account documents or secure mailbox.

You can also pull the same data through your IRS Individual Online Account at irs.gov, which is useful if you’ve lost access to your Marketplace account.³

Still nothing by mid-February? Call the Marketplace that administered your plan. For Healthcare.gov, the number is 1-800-318-2596.²

When You Get a Different Kaiser Tax Form Instead

Not every Kaiser member receives a 1095-A. The form depends on how you got the coverage:

Marketplace plan: Form 1095-A, issued by the exchange.
Individual or family plan bought directly from Kaiser off-exchange: Form 1095-B, issued by Kaiser as proof of coverage.
Employer-sponsored group plan: Form 1095-B from Kaiser or Form 1095-C from the employer, depending on employer size.⁴

Only a Marketplace plan involves the Premium Tax Credit, and only the 1095-A triggers reconciliation on your return. Forms 1095-B and 1095-C are proof of coverage and don’t require the same tax math.⁵ If you bought your Kaiser plan directly from Kaiser or through an employer, you won’t receive a 1095-A at all.

How to Read the Three Columns

Part III of the 1095-A shows three columns of monthly figures. Each feeds the Premium Tax Credit calculation:

Column A, Monthly Enrollment Premium: the full premium for your Marketplace plan each month, before any tax credit was applied. It may differ from what you actually paid out of pocket, or if coverage started or ended mid-month.¹
Column B, Second Lowest Cost Silver Plan (SLCSP) Premium: the benchmark plan cost in your area. It drives the maximum credit, regardless of the metal tier you chose.⁶
Column C, Advance Payments of the Premium Tax Credit (APTC): what the government paid directly to Kaiser each month to lower your premium. If you paid full price with no subsidy, this column shows zero.

Check Column B carefully. If it shows zero or blank for any month you had coverage, or if you had life changes during the year (a new baby, a move, a marriage or divorce) that weren’t reported to the Marketplace, the SLCSP figure may be wrong. Use the tax tool at Healthcare.gov to look up the correct SLCSP premium before filing.¹

Reconciling With Form 8962

If Column C shows any amount other than zero, you must file Form 8962 with your tax return. No exceptions. Even if you didn’t take advance payments and want to claim the credit at tax time, you still use Form 8962.⁷

Reconciliation is a comparison. When you enrolled, the Marketplace estimated your income and sent advance payments based on that estimate. Form 8962 compares those advance payments against the credit you actually qualify for, calculated from your final household income.⁸ Household income here means the modified adjusted gross income of you and your spouse (if filing jointly), plus the modified AGI of any dependent who earns enough to be required to file.

For the 2025 tax year, enhanced rules keep the maximum contribution between 0% and roughly 8.5% of household income, and people earning above 400% of the poverty line can still qualify.⁹

Two outcomes are possible. If your actual income came in lower than what you estimated, your final credit is larger than the advance payments, and the difference increases your refund. If your income ended up higher, your final credit is smaller, and you owe back the excess.

Repayment Caps for Excess Advance Credits

For the 2025 tax year, the amount you might owe back is capped if your household income stays below 400% of the federal poverty line:⁸

Below 200% FPL: $375 single, $750 all other filing statuses
200% to under 300% FPL: $975 single, $1,950 all others
300% to under 400% FPL: $1,625 single, $3,250 all others
400% FPL and above: no cap; you repay the full excess

These caps disappear starting with the 2026 tax year. For coverage beginning in 2026 and later, the IRS requires repayment of the full excess regardless of income level.¹⁰ Accurate income estimates to the Marketplace matter more going forward.

What Happens if You Skip Reconciliation

Filing without Form 8962 when you received advance credits isn’t an oversight the IRS overlooks. If you e-file, the return gets rejected under IRS business rule F8962-070, and the system won’t let it through until you add the form.¹¹ If you file on paper without it, the IRS accepts the return but follows up with Letter 12C requesting the missing information, and you have 20 days to respond.¹² Either way, any refund you’re owed gets held.

The Marketplace also tracks reconciliation. If you haven’t filed and reconciled for a prior year, the Marketplace may cut off your advance payments for the current year, and your monthly premium jumps to the full unsubsidized amount.¹³ A warning letter goes out first, but the safest move is to file with Form 8962 as soon as your 1095-A is available.

Missing, Wrong, or Multiple 1095-As

If mid-February has passed and no 1095-A has arrived by mail or in your online account, contact the Marketplace call center. Kaiser cannot reissue it.¹

If the form arrives but looks wrong (incorrect enrollment months, a premium that doesn’t match, a blank SLCSP), request a corrected version from the Marketplace. Corrected forms are labeled “Corrected” at the top. If you haven’t filed yet, wait for the corrected form and use it when you do file.¹⁴

If you already filed before the corrected form arrived, the IRS has stated you do not need to file an amended return based on a corrected 1095-A, even if the correction would result in additional tax owed. You may choose to amend using Form 1040-X, particularly if the correction would increase your refund, but it’s not required. One exception: if the Marketplace sends a voided 1095-A because the original was issued in error, you should file an amended return.¹⁴

Life changes during the year (adding a baby, getting married, moving) can result in multiple 1095-A forms for the same coverage year, one per enrollment period. If you receive more than one, use all of them when completing Form 8962. If the filing deadline is close and you’re still waiting on a corrected form, file with the best information you have and amend later if needed.¹

1
HealthCare.gov. How to Use Form 1095-A, Health Insurance Marketplace Statement
2
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). How Do Consumers Receive Their Form 1095-A?
3
Internal Revenue Service. The Health Insurance Marketplace
4
Kaiser Permanente. Understanding Your IRS 1095 Forms
5
Kaiser Permanente. Health Coverage Information Request Form FAQs
6
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1095-A (2025)
7
Internal Revenue Service. Form 1095-A, Health Insurance Marketplace Statement
8
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8962 (2025)
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 36B – Refundable Credit for Coverage Under a Qualified Health Plan
10
Internal Revenue Service. Updates to Questions and Answers About the Premium Tax Credit
11
Internal Revenue Service. How to Correct an Electronically Filed Return Rejected for a Missing Form 8962
12
Internal Revenue Service. Understanding Your Letter 12C
13
HealthCare.gov. How to Reconcile Your Premium Tax Credit
14
Internal Revenue Service. Corrected, Incorrect or Voided Form 1095-A