For any year when you received advanced premium tax credits, you are required to file a federal income tax return, including Form 8962.  If you fail to do this for two consecutive years — it is called “failure to reconcile”, you might not be able to receive premium tax credits in the future. If you file a federal income tax return but don’t include Form 8962 for two consecutive years, that is also considered a failure to reconcile and you may be prevented from applying for premium tax credits in the future.

If this happens to you, be sure to remedy this failure as soon as you can.  You can still sign up for health insurance coverage for the coming year, but you won’t be able to get advance premium tax credits until you have filed your previous tax returns with Form 8962.