An audit conducted by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration assessed the IRS’ accuracy in responding to Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act exchange requests for information. As of March 31, the IRS had received more than 27 million requests for income and family size verification, as well as 11 million advance premium tax credit requests (under which, if granted, the credit or subsidy would be paid directly to an enrollee’s health insurance provider as a partial payment for their premiums). The audit analyzed 120,824 advance credit calculation requests received between Oct. 1 and 14 last fall and found the IRS accurately calculated the maximum monthly advance credit amount for all requests.
The audit also found the IRS provided accurate responses to 99.97 percent of 101,018 income and family size verification requests received during the first 14 days of October. The 33 incorrect responses resulted from a computer programming error that led to the IRS data not always containing the most recent name information from tax accounts.
The audit follows a report from the Associated Press in June stating at least 2.1 million people could be affected by data discrepancies in their exchange applications, meaning the information the individual supplied on their application does not match the information the government has on record. Most of the discrepancies involved income details and citizenship and immigration status, and the errors could affect what people pay for their health insurance coverage (since subsidies are determined based on income level) and their legal right to obtain coverage, according to the report. In response, House Republicans urged the Obama administration to stop providing PPACA subsidies because of possible errors in distribution.
More articles on PPACA subsidies:
IRS releases temporary, proposed PPACA tax credit rules
Obama administration appeals PPACA subsidy case
Subsidies in 36 states thrown out by appeals court: 5 things to know
