HealthCare.gov Tax Forms: 800,000 Customers Sent Incorrect Information, White House Says

Hundreds of thousands of HealthCare.gov customers have been sent incorrect tax information from the government, a gaffe that's likely to cause many of the affected people some headaches at least, and some tax issues at most. The White House made the announcement Friday and are asking the estimated 800,000 people who received the tax error to delay filing their 2014 tax returns, according to the Associated Press, which reported that the mistake could potentially have an effect on how much money is refunded.

The HealthCare.gov Blog on Friday published a post advising tax form recipients that they should expect a phone call and an email soon with instructions for how to proceed, adding that the corrected forms “should be made available by early March.” About 50,000 people who have already filed their taxes may have to file again because of the error, according to the AP.

The blog post added that most people received the correct Form 1095-A, but that group of customers will still likely be contacted by the government: “Some forms included the monthly premium amount of the second lowest cost Silver plan for 2015 instead of 2014, which needs to be corrected. The incorrect amount is listed in Part III, Column B of the Form 1095-A. We're working quickly to resolve this and any other issues with the 1095-A forms. This does not mean that your tax credit was incorrect; this is purely an error in what was printed on the form.”

Friday’s announcement is just the latest controversial episode for the embattled online healthcare portal provided by the Affordable Care Act (also known as ObamaCare) that began with significant web site access issues. The online difficulties ultimately resulted in the resignation of now-former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who was charged with overseeing the website's implementation. Similar issues continued as recently as Sunday -- the deadline to sign up for ObamaCare -- when the HealthCare.gov website experienced yet another technical glitch, prompting certain states to extend their own deadlines by as many as two weeks.