Prepare for Tax Season Now, Register Your Family in DEERS

When you register in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System(DEERS) A database of information on uniformed services members (sponsors), U.S.-sponsored foreign military, DoD and uniformed services civilians, other personnel as directed by the DoD, and their family members. You need to register in DEERS to get TRICARE. (DEERS), you provide information necessary for you and your family to receive the full spectrum of your military benefits. Not adding your family to DEERS can affect their access to health care, submitted claim forms and now, your income tax reporting.

For tax season 2014, you self-reported on your federal tax form whether or not you and your family members had minimum essential coverageBasic health care coverage that meets the Affordable Care Act requirement. If you don’t have coverage, you may have to pay a fee for each month you aren’t covered. (MEC). This tax season, the Department of Defense (DoD) will report health care coverage of its service member and their dependents to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). This report allows the IRS to determine which families had minimum essential coverage as required by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA).

For tax purposes, individuals and family members are identified by their Social Security Numbers (SSN). If a sponsor receives a letter indicating that their SSN or a family members' SSN need to be updated in DEERS please follow the instructions in the letter to ensure your information is correctly reported to the IRS. Letters will be mailed in early August. Those who have not met the MEC requirement will be required to pay a fee for the number of months each family member did not have coverage. If your family information is not reported accurately in DEERS, then your IRS information will be reported incorrectly.

Beginning June 2015, the DOD asks all uniformed service membersIncludes active duty and retired members of the: U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Coast Guard, the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service and the Commissioned Corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association., retirees and annuitants serviced by Defense Finance and Accounting Services to opt-in to receive their IRS Form electronically via myPay. For more information on how TRICARE works with the ACA, go to the TRICARE website.