Business and economics |

Taxpayer asks:
Hi TaxGirl. I’ve searched all over the Internet and the IRS.gov website and I can’t find an answer to my question, so I’m hoping you can answer it:

My sisters don’t currently have healthcare insurance, so my mom is helping them with some of their healthcare bills and expenses. My understanding is that this is not subject to taxation or reporting as long as the payments are being made directly to the healthcare providers. My question is: can my mom instead make premium payments for healthcare insurance for them or does this somehow not qualify in the same way as direct healthcare payments? I know that in personal income tax deductions, premiums can be deducted along with medical expenses, but for gifts, if payments must be paid directly to healthcare providers, than I’m not sure if a healthcare insurance company is consider a healthcare provider or not.

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Taxpayer asks:
Dear Taxgirl,

In the last couple months, I’ve received a spammy e-mail asking me to sign an “electronic petition” against a tax increase so the government can provide health care to illegal aliens. I deleted this whenever I got it, because it just sounds like some urban legend to me. I mean who in their right mind would propose this?

The other day in the US mail I received an update from my congressman which included a survey for his constituents to fill out and mail back. One of the questions was “Do you support a 71 billion dollar tax increase to provide government healthcare for illegal aliens?”. In my research I can not find any such pending legislation. Have you heard of anything or do you know where I could look besides the websites of the house & senate? I think my representative may just be trying to stir the pot. I do plan to contact his office, but would like to be armed with as much info as possible before I hold his feet to the fire.

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