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 — it is called “failure to reconcile” — you may be unable to apply for premium tax credits for the following year.  If you file a federal income tax return but don’t include Form 8962, that is also considered a failure to reconcile and you may be prevented from applying for premium tax credits at the next Open Enrollment.

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 prior-year tax return with Form 8962.