What are the IRS penalties for failing to have health insurance?

What are the IRS penalties for failing to have health insurance? How much are the 2015 IRS penalties for not have health insurance? What are the Affordable Care Act ACA penalties for not having health insurance? How much will I be penalized if I don't have insurance under Obamacare? Listen as Attorney Tom Olsen discusses these questions and more! 

Attorney Tom Olsen: Hey, let's talk about the Affordable Care Act. It's new for people because if you don't have health insurance the IRS will penalize you for that, right?

Dave McCarron: That's right. You know, the Affordable Care Act is, I think, one of the most far reaching pieces of legislation we've had in a long, long time. Everybody is affected by the Affordable Care Act laws and for this 2014 was the first year that if you did not have the health or a qualified health insurance that you were actually subject to a penalty.

Attorney Tom Olsen: And how would the IRS know whether or not you have health insurance?

Dave McCarron: You know, for 2014 it was pretty much on the honor system. They asked you a question, did you have it or not? For 2015 it's actually going to be, there's going to be a tax document that's issued by the insurance company that lets you know that if you had affordable coverage and that's on a month-by-month basis.

Attorney Tom Olsen: Right. And so how many clients did you have that got penalized in 2014?

Dave McCarron: You know, we do probably about 700 tax returns and I think we had maybe ten that were actually subject to the Affordable Care Act penalty last year.