As I reported earlier, income verification requirements are already quite demanding — far more demanding than verification requirements for tax benefits received by other Americans such as business-expense deductions — but in the end verification in advance of how much lower-income American families will earn over a year is a fantasy. Lower-income Americans often work in part-time, intermittent, or seasonal jobs and are paid hourly wages, making predicting income exactly a year in advance simply not possible. Lying on an application is subject to serious civil and criminal penalties, and the amount of tax credits received by an individual will in any event be reconciled with actual income at the end of the year. A good-faith estimate of income is all that is possible. Congress cannot reasonably require the impossible.
–Timothy Jost, Health Affairs Blog
