About Premium Tax Credits

If eligible for the premium tax credit, you can use it to lower your monthly insurance premium when you enroll in a private health insurance plan through MNsure. Premium tax credits can be applied to all private plans except catastrophic and stand-alone dental plans.

Who is Eligible?

To be eligible for the premium tax credit, you must not be eligible for public program coverage, and must not have access to affordable minimum essential coverage.

Congress made premium tax credits more generous and expanded eligibility to more Minnesotans, through 2025:

• Eligibility for tax credits will not be limited by household income (before 2021, households with incomes above 400 percent of the federal poverty guidelines were not eligible for tax credits.) 
• More families with offers of family coverage through an employer may now qualify for an advanced premium tax credit.

Use our estimator tool to get a quick estimate on your eligibility and potential savings. Or, to get an official eligibility determination, apply through MNsure and select the application WITH financial help.

How Tax Credits are Calculated

The amount of your premium tax credit is based on the income estimate and household information you put on your MNsure application, including:

• Your household’s total expected income for the year (projected annual income or PAI).
• The total number of people in your tax household that enroll in private health insurance through MNsure.
• The premium amount of the second lowest cost silver plan available through MNsure in your area. This also called the “benchmark” plan. (You can choose to enroll in plans that cost more than the benchmark plan.)
• The maximum percentage of household income that can be spent on the cost of the benchmark plan's premiums. The current maximum amount is 8.5 percent. (Before 2021 it was a maximum of 9.83 percent.)

Using Your Tax Credit

You can use all, some, or none of your premium tax credit in advance to lower your monthly premium. For example:

• Save money now and get the financial help in advance (advanced premium tax credit, or "APTC") to lower your monthly premiums.
• Save money later and wait until you file your federal taxes to get a premium tax credit ("PTC") added to your tax refund.

Read about how to adjust your APTC amount.

Claiming or Reporting Premium Tax Credits

If you enrolled in a plan through MNsure with advanced premium tax credit, or you want to claim a premium tax credit on your tax return, you will need to file the IRS Form 8962 with your federal income tax return for that year. Learn more about claiming or reporting premium tax credits.