Second Lowest Cost Silver Plan (SLCSP) and Tax Tools

Second Lowest Cost Silver Plans and Lowest Cost Bronze Plans Explained

The Second Lowest Cost Silver Plan (SLCSP) is a plan on each state’s Marketplace used to determine cost assistance for ObamaCare. Likewise, the Lowest Cost Bronze Plan in each state’s marketplace is used to determine affordability.

This page covers everything you need to know about Second Lowest Cost Silver Plans and Lowest Cost Bronze Plans.

This page also provides links to tools used to find and calculate the Second Lowest Cost Silver Plans and Lowest Cost Bronze Plans in your state.

Second Lowest Cost Tax Tools For Assistance and Affordability

To complete Form 8965 or Form 8962 when you file your federal tax return, you may be asked for information about Marketplace health plans that were available to you in the year in which you had coverage.

Thus, you may need to know the cost of premiums for the second lowest cost Silver plan (SLCSP) or the lowest cost Bronze plan.

Use the following links to access the Silver and Bronze tax tools: Second Lowest Cost Silver Plan Tax Tool from HealthCare.Gov and Lowest Cost Bronze Plan Tax Tool From HealthCare.Gov.

FACT: In most cases, you’ll find your SLCSP premium on Form 1095-A. If you don’t have access to your 1095-A, or want to verify the SLCSP for another reason (perhaps to see the average cost of a plan in your region in a year), simply use the tax tool above.

TIP: Some specific figures will change each year, but the general logic and tools you need won’t. Just make sure to select the right tax year when using the tax tools above.

Second Lowest Cost Silver Plan and Lowest Cost Bronze Plan FAQ

Below is some important information on how these plans are used to determine cost assistance and affordability.

• The Second Lowest Cost Silver Plan (SLCSP) in your state’s marketplace is used as the “baseline” plan for determining cost assistance. So for instance, if you qualified to have your tax credits capped at 9.5% of your household income, you would receive the exact amount of credits for a plan with the same premium as the SLCSP, less for higher-cost plans, and more for lower-cost plans.
• You’ll need to use the SLCSP when figuring out tax credits on form form 8962 (Premium Tax Credit Form 8962). The 8962 instructions will also guide you in using the SLCSP.
• The affordability exemption uses the Lowest Cost Bronze Plan to determine if the cheapest marketplace plan was affordable. Use form 8965 (Health Coverage Exemptions and Instructions). Again, the instructions will help guide you.
• The average price of bronze plans is used to determine the max penalty anyone would have to pay for not having coverage (in years where the fee applies). Calculate the fee in the years where it applies with the worksheet found in the instructions of 8965.

NOTE: If your Form 1095-A is wrong, or you didn’t get Form 1095, you can use the SLCSP tax tool to calculate information for your 1095 yourself.

Second Lowest Cost Silver Plan Tax Tool

To determine your final premium tax credit for the year, you need to know the premium for the second lowest cost Silver plan (SLCSP) that was available to you in that year. You’ll enter this information on Form 8962—Premium Tax Credit.

Most people will find this information on the Form 1095-A they get from the Marketplace. Some will need to use this tool.

SLCSP Tax Tool from HealthCare.Gov: FIND SILVER PLAN PREMIUM

See if you need to use this tool to find your second lowest cost Silver premium: You need to use this tool if the Form 1095-A you get from the Marketplace doesn’t include information about your second lowest cost Silver plan (SLCSP), or if the information is outdated. This could happen if:

• You had a change to your household in this year that you didn’t report to the Marketplace — like having a baby, moving to a new home, or a family member getting job-based coverage
• You didn’t apply for financial assistance when you completed a Marketplace application, and want to find out now if you qualify
• You didn’t take advance payments of the premium tax credit to lower the amount you paid for monthly premiums in the year in question and want to take them when you file your taxes

Lowest Cost Bronze Plan Tax Tool

To claim the exemption because Marketplace coverage was considered unaffordable for you in a given year, you’ll need to know the premium for the lowest cost Bronze plan available to you. To do this, you’ll use the lowest cost bronze plan tax tool below.

You’ll use this information to complete Form 8965—Health Coverage Exemptions.

• You don’t need to use this tool if you already have an Exemption Certificate Number (ECN) for this exemption. Just enter your ECN on Part 1 of Form 8965.
• To claim this exemption, you’ll also need to know how much financial assistance you were eligible for by looking up the premium for the second lowest cost Silver plan (SLCSP) available to you for the year.

Second Lowest Cost Sliver Plan and 8962

To determine your final premium tax credit for the year in question, you need to know the premium for the second lowest cost Silver plan (SLCSP) that was available to you. You’ll enter this information on Form 8962—Premium Tax Credit.

Second Lowest Cost Sliver Plan and 1095

You need to use this tool if the Form 1095-A you get from the Marketplace doesn’t include information about your second lowest cost Silver plan (SLCSP), or if the information is outdated. This could happen if:

• You had a change in your household that you didn’t report to the Marketplace — like having a baby, moving to a new home, or a family member getting job-based coverage
• You didn’t apply for financial assistance when you filled out your Marketplace application, and want to find out now if you qualify
• You didn’t take advance payments of the premium tax credit to lower the amount you paid for monthly premiums for the year

Note: In some cases, the information on your Form 1095-A doesn’t include any information about the second lowest cost Silver plan (SLCSP), or the information isn’t updated based on your latest circumstances. If so, you may need to use a tool to get information about your second lowest cost Silver plan for the year. Learn more about using the SLCSP tool.

Lowest Cost Bronze Plan and 8965

You may need to use both the second lowest cost silver plan tool and the lowest cost bronze plan tool if you’re claiming a health coverage exemption because Marketplace coverage was considered unaffordable for you.

NOTE: From 2019 forward the fee for not having coverage is reduced to $0 in most states.