Taxpayers who did not have coverage for all of the tax year, or had a gap in coverage of four or more consecutive months will need to determine if they had access to affordable health insurance (either through an employer, the government or on their own). The instructions to Schedule HC contain the worksheets and tables to determine whether the taxpayer had access to affordable health insurance.
If it is determined that a taxpayer could have afforded health insurance, the taxpayer has the right to appeal the application of the penalty due to hardship by requesting an appeal to the Connector on the Schedule HC.