Beginning in 2020, residents of Rhode Island are required to maintain minimum essential health coverage. According to the State of Rhode Island, "The Rhode Island Individual Health Insurance Mandate requires each applicable individual to have health insurance coverage, have a health coverage exemption, or make a shared responsibility payment with their Rhode Island personal income tax return."
Who must file this form?
You are required to file Form IND-HEALTH, along with the Shared Responsibility Worksheet, if all of the following apply:
- You are filing a Form RI-1040 or RI-1040NR
- You cannot be claimed as a dependent by another taxpayer.
- For one or more months of 2021, you or someone else in your tax household did not have minimum essential coverage.
If you are not required to file a tax return, your tax household is exempt from the shared responsibility payment and you do not need to file a tax return to claim the coverage exemption.
Part-Year Residents
If you are a part-year resident filing form RI-1040NR, all members of the tax household are required to have minimum essential coverage during the months they were Rhode Island residents.
During the tax year, if each member of your tax household had coverage for all the months they were members of your tax household and residents of Rhode Island, you will check the “Full-year health
care coverage” box on your return.
Dependent Information
If your dependent filed their own federal return, you will need to enter additional information from their tax return. Please review the dependent's return to find the following information:
- Federal Tax Exempt Interest
- Federal AGI
- Foreign earned income exclusion from Form 2555
- Housing deduction from Form 2555
Shared Responsibility Payment (Penalty)
The program will automatically figure your shared responsibility payment based on your entries. The amount will be added to your state return.
The Shared Responsibility Payment is determined by comparing the results of three different calculations listed below and taking the higher of percentage of income method OR the Flat Dollar Method (but not to exceed the Average Bronze Plan amount).
- Percentage of Income Method - 2.5 % of your Modified Adjusted Gross Income above the tax filing threshold.
- Flat Dollar Amount Penalty - The maximum penalty amount is $2,085 (300% of the flat dollar amount penalty). For tax year 2021, the Monthly Penalty Rates are $57.92 for adults and $28.96 for children under age 18.
- Average Bronze Plan amount as determined by HealthSource RI. For calendar year 2021, the Average Bronze Plan amount is $295 per month.
Exemptions
Below is a partial list of the exemptions available. A full list of exemptions can be found on the Rhode Island Healthsource website.
| Exemption | Description |
| Hardship | You experienced a hardship that prevented you from obtaining coverage under a qualified health plan. See below for more information. |
| Members of certain religious sects | You are a member of a recognized religious sect. |
| Coverage considered unaffordable based on projected income | HealthSource RI determined that you didn’t have access to coverage that is considered affordable based on your projected household income. |
| Part-year Rhode Island Resident | You were a bona fide resident of another state for part of the year and are exempt for months in which you were not a Rhode Island resident. |
| Member of tax household born or adopted during the year | The months before and including the month that an individual was added to your tax household by birth or adoption. You should claim this exemption only if you also are claiming another exemption on your Rhode Island Personal Income Tax return. |
| Member of tax household died during the year | The months after the month that a member of your tax household died during the year. You should claim this exemption only if you also are claiming another exemption on your Rhode Island Personal Income Tax return. |