What Is The Health Insurance Levy? 
I presume you are asking about the individual mandate requirement of the Affordable Care Act -LRB- ObamaCare -RRB- and the tax penalty associated with not having health insurance or health insurance that meets the requirements of the Affordable Care Act . The term `` levy '' is technically inaccurate as that is an assessment applied to a population in general . Persons without health insurance in 2014 will be subject to a tax penalty when they file their 2014 tax returns in 2015 . The penalty for being uninsured in 2014 will be $ 95 per adult and $ 47.50 per child -LRB- up to $ 285 per household -RRB- or 1 % of their Modified Adjusted Gross Income -LRB- MAGI -RRB- , whichever is greater . The tax penalty for being uninsured in 2015 will increase to $ 325 per adult and $ 162.50 per child -LRB- up to $ 975 per household -RRB- or 2 % of their MAGI , whichever is greater . If you persist in being uninsured in 2016 the tax penalty jumps to $ 695 per adult and $ 347.50 per child -LRB- up to $ 2085 per household -RRB- or 2.5 % of MAGI , whichever is greater . In subsequent years the tax penalty will be adjusted upward by the inflation rate . As the law is currently constructed , the tax penalties described above can only be collected by the IRS from any income tax refund that the taxpayer would have received . The IRS can not bill the taxpayer for the penalty , place a lien on their assets or criminally prosecute the taxpayer . Obviously , this means that an uninsured person 's tax penalty on paper and what their true penalty -LRB- if any -RRB- might be will be directly related to whether they are eligible for a tax refund . So , a person 's ability to structure their tax withholding during the course of the year , or in the case of self-employed persons making estimated tax payments , so that they have little or no refund or owe additional taxes when filing their tax return may largely negate or eliminate the tax penalty for being uninsured . 