Got a 1095 tax form in the mail this year but not sure what it means? You're not alone. Tax season can sometimes feel like a storm of forms. While electronic filing is increasingly popular (and recommended), last year the IRS reported that it still receives about 125 million paper returns annually. So the business of taxation won't be winning over tree-lovers anytime soon.
Despite all that, if you've been doing it for a while, you start to get a handle on the various important forms, whether it's W2s or various Form 1099s. But if you're anything like me, one particular form might still have you scratching your head: the 1095-C. Personally, I got one to go along with every W2 this year and a quick glance indicated that it concerned my health insurance policies. So what do I actually need it for?
Uncertainty like that is a real issue for a lot of people during tax season, even if tax mistakes are an easy fix most of the time. According to CNET's new 2025 tax survey, 25% of taxpayers are worried about making a mistake while filing. Younger generations are the most concerned, with Gen Z at 33% and millennials at 27%. For Gen X filers, 22% were worried about the possibility, while 20% of Baby Boomers said the same.
For all the answers you need about Form 1095, read on. For more tax tips, see if your state has its own version of the child tax credit and find out how to turn student loan payments into a tax deduction. You can also check out CNET's 2025 list of the best tax filing software on the market.
What is Form 1095-C for tax purposes?
The Form 1095-C -- also known as the Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage Form if you want to get serious -- is a statement that certain businesses are required to send to their employees during tax filing season, confirming that they were either enrolled in employer-provided health insurance each month of the year or were eligible to be enrolled. There are other forms of 1095 that we'll touch on later.
Companies with at least 50 full-time workers -- known as "Applicable Large Scale" -- are required to file 1095-Cs for all their workers, who are defined as working at least 30 hours a week. So there you go: You received a 1095-C because you're either on your company's health plan or you could have been.
Do I need Form 1095-C to file my taxes?
The short answer? Nope! At least not anymore. The 1095 tax forms were introduced in 2015 as part of the Affordable Care Act's "individual mandate" that most Americans had to have qualifying health insurance throughout the year. Not doing so could have resulted in you facing a fine. Using the 1095 tax forms was how you proved to the federal government that you had followed the mandate and been covered by health insurance throughout the year.
I described all of that in the past tense because, as of 2024, the individual mandate was no longer in effect, so you'll no longer be penalized for not having health insurance for a period of time. If you've ever been between jobs and health plans for a few months, and didn't have the money to shell out for marketplace plans, that's a huge weight of your shoulders. As one expert explained, the form is largely just a requirement for companies now.
"The elimination of the individual mandate largely eliminated the utility of the 1095-C," Jassen Bowman, an IRS enrolled agent and all-around tax expert, explained to CNET in an email exchange. "Large employers (more than 50 employees) are still required to provide health insurance, and face penalties if they don't, so more than anything the 1095-C is for the employer to prove compliance."
Bowman did stress, however, that California, the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island still have their own state or district-level individual mandates in place, so you'll be required to provide information from a different form -- like the 1099-HC in Massachusetts -- on your tax return. Vermont also requires that you report your health insurance information on your return, although the state does not penalize anyone for not having any, like the above mentioned states do.
What about Forms 1095-A and 1095-B?
Learning your ABCs might be as simple as 1-2-3, but learning about the rest of the 1095 tax forms is slightly more complicated than do-re-mi. As mentioned above, a Form 1095-C is for health insurance you received from an employer, which is still the most common way Americans get covered with health insurance. According to 2023 census data released in September, about 54% of the more than 305 million Americans with health insurance that year had it from an employer.
You'll receive a Form 1095-A if you got health insurance from one of the marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act. The Form 1095-B is typically sent by health insurance companies and describes the actual details of your insurance plan, including what sort of coverage you had and who else in your family was on the plan. For more, find out the difference between tax credits and deductions.
