Updated October 17, 2026. Quick answer: Form 1095-B reports who in your household had minimum essential coverage and in which months, from a coverage provider such as an insurer, an employer, or a government program. The form itself says “Do not attach to your tax return. Keep for your records.” Part I names you and the type of coverage, and Part IV lists each covered person by month.
What Form 1095-B is
The recipient instructions printed on the form describe it this way: “This Form 1095-B provides information about the individuals in your tax family (yourself, spouse, and dependents) who had certain health coverage” for some or all months of the year. The filer instructions give the purpose from the sender’s side: “Form 1095-B is used to report certain information to the IRS and to taxpayers about individuals who are covered by minimum essential coverage.”
The same instructions define the term you will keep running into: “Minimum essential coverage includes government-sponsored programs, eligible employer-sponsored plans, individual market plans, and other coverage the Department of Health and Human Services designates as minimum essential coverage.” One kind of plan is left out: “Minimum essential coverage doesn’t include coverage consisting solely of excepted benefits.” The instructions give examples of excepted benefits: “vision and dental coverage not part of a comprehensive health insurance plan, workers’ compensation coverage, and coverage limited to a specified disease or illness.”
This page is part of a set on the Form 1095 family. The overview is Form 1095 explained, the Marketplace version is covered under Form 1095-A Parts I and II, and the employer version is covered in the line 14 pages, starting with code 1A.
Who sends Form 1095-B
The filer instructions say “Every person who provides minimum essential coverage to an individual during a calendar year must file an information return reporting the coverage.” In practice the sender depends on the kind of coverage. For insurance, “Health insurance issuers and carriers must file Form 1095-B for most health insurance coverage, including individual market coverage and insured coverage sponsored by employers.” For public programs, “In general, the government agency sponsoring the program will file Form 1095-B.” For employers, the instructions split by size and plan type: “Small employers that aren’t subject to the employer shared responsibility provisions sponsoring self-insured group health plans will use Forms 1094-B and 1095-B to report information about covered individuals.”
Not every kind of coverage lands on this form. The instructions say that “These types of coverage are reported by the government sponsors of those programs.” in the case of CHIP, Medicaid, Medicare and the Basic Health Program provided through health insurance companies. For Marketplace plans the instructions say: “This coverage is generally reported by Marketplaces on Form 1095-A.” For larger employers that run their own plan, the instructions say they “will generally report information about the coverage in Part III of Form 1095-C instead of on Form 1095-B.” So if you expected a Form 1095-B and received a different form, that can be the reason.
Who the form is addressed to
The instructions call the person the form is addressed to the “responsible individual” and define that person: “The “responsible individual” is the person who, based on a relationship to the covered individuals, the primary name on the coverage, or some other circumstances, should receive the statement.” They add examples: “A statement recipient may be a parent if only minor children are covered individuals, a primary subscriber for insured coverage, an employee or former employee in the case of employer-sponsored coverage, a uniformed services sponsor for TRICARE, or another individual who should receive the statement.”
The form’s own tip tells you what to do when other people are covered under your policy: “Providers of minimum essential coverage are required to furnish only one Form 1095-B for all individuals whose coverage is reported on that form.” It adds that “you should provide a copy to other individuals covered under the policy if they request it for their records.”
Part I: you and the type of coverage
Part I is described on the form as “Part I reports information about you and the coverage.” Lines 2 and 3 identify you: “Line 2 reports your social security number (SSN) or other taxpayer identification number (TIN), if applicable.” The form is built to protect it: “For your protection, this form may show only the last four digits.” On the date of birth, “Your date of birth will be entered on line 3 only if line 2 is blank.” Line 9 is “Reserved.” for this year.
Line 8 is the part most people want to read. The form says “This is the code for the type of coverage in which you or other covered individuals were enrolled. Only one letter will be entered on this line.” The letters, taken from the filer instructions, are below.
| Line 8 letter | What the instructions list |
|---|---|
| A | “Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP).” |
| B | “Employer-sponsored coverage, except for an individual coverage HRA.” |
| C | “Government-sponsored program.” |
| D | “Individual market insurance.” |
| E | “Multiemployer plan.” |
| F | “Other designated minimum essential coverage.” |
| G | “Employer-sponsored coverage that is an individual coverage HRA.” |
The Marketplace and employer tip printed on the form is worth reading next to the table: “If you or another family member received health insurance coverage through a Health Insurance Marketplace (also known as an Exchange), that coverage will generally be reported on a Form 1095-A rather than a Form 1095-B.” It continues: “If you or another family member received employer-sponsored coverage, that coverage may be reported on a Form 1095-C (Part III) rather than a Form 1095-B.”
Part II: the employer, when it is shown
The recipient instructions say “If you had employer-sponsored health coverage, this part may provide information about the employer sponsoring the coverage.” They also say “This part may also be left blank, even if you had employer-sponsored health coverage.” And they tell you what a blank Part II means for you: “If this part is blank, you do not need to fill in the information or return it to your employer or other coverage provider.”
On the sender’s side, the instructions say “This part is completed only by issuers or carriers of insured group health plans, including coverage purchased through the SHOP.” An employer that reports its own plan on this form does not complete it: “Employers reporting self-insured group health plan coverage on Form 1095-B, except for an individual coverage HRA, enter code B on line 8, but don’t complete Part II.”
Part III: the coverage provider
Part III names the sender. The form says “This part reports information about the coverage provider” and lists the possible providers as “insurance company, employer providing self-insured coverage, government agency sponsoring coverage under a government program such as Medicaid or Medicare, or other coverage sponsor” The practical piece is the phone number: “Line 18 reports a telephone number for the coverage provider that you can call if you have questions about the information reported on the form.”
Part IV: each covered person, month by month
Part IV is the table of people. The recipient instructions say “This part reports the name, SSN or other TIN, and coverage information for each covered individual.” On the months, “Column (d) will be checked if the individual was covered for at least 1 day in every month of the year.” For anyone who was covered for part of the year, “information will be entered in column (e) indicating the months for which these individuals were covered.”
The filer instructions use the same threshold in a month: “check the applicable box(es) for the month(s) in which the individual was covered for at least 1 day.” Read your own form by that rule. A check in the all-12-months column means at least one day of coverage in each month, and a pattern of checked months means at least one day in those months. If more people are covered than fit, “If there are more than six covered individuals” the form refers you to a continuation sheet.
What you do with it, and when it arrives
The first page of the form says “Do not attach to your tax return. Keep for your records.” The form also connects the information to the credit: “If individuals in your tax family are eligible for certain types of minimum essential coverage, you may not be eligible for the premium tax credit.” For the Marketplace side of that, see Form 1095-A Parts I and II; for a way to see how household income interacts with subsidies, the ACA subsidy calculator is on this site.
On delivery, the filer instructions say “In general, statements must be furnished on paper by mail (or hand delivered), unless the recipient affirmatively consents to receive the statement in an electronic format.” They also describe a newer option: “Employers no longer have to automatically send Form 1095-B to individuals.” Under it, the statement counts as timely furnished if the sender posts a notice on its website that you may ask for a copy, and the copy goes out “no later than the later of January 31, 2026, or 30 days after the date of the request.” If you did not receive a form you expected, that is one of the reasons.
If a sender later changes the coverage dates, the instructions say “You must file a corrected return to report retroactive changes in coverage.” Medicare Part A is on the instructions’ list of government-sponsored programs (“Medicare Part A.”), which is one reason older readers see this form; the first Medicare choices at 65 page covers the Medicare side of that.
Edition and tax year
The 2025 forms and instructions were the ones read for this page. They were the current files on irs.gov on 2026-10-17, and they cover coverage in calendar year 2025, furnished in early 2026. The year is printed on the form you received, so check it before you rely on any line of this page.
Common mistakes
- Expecting Marketplace coverage on this form. The form’s own tip says Marketplace coverage “will generally be reported on a Form 1095-A rather than a Form 1095-B.”
- Treating a blank Part II as a problem to fix. The recipient instructions say “If this part is blank, you do not need to fill in the information or return it to your employer or other coverage provider.”
- Attaching the form to the return. The first page says “Do not attach to your tax return. Keep for your records.”
Related: ACA subsidy calculator, First Medicare choices at 65, COBRA vs ACA at retirement, and Form 1040.
Sources
- Form 1095-B (2025), Health Coverage: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1095b.pdf
- 2025 Instructions for Forms 1094-B and 1095-B: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i109495b.pdf
Read from the IRS documents linked above on October 17, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a preparer, the account provider or the IRS is the right place to confirm anything consequential.