Some 1.8 million households have learned there's a catch to the money the government lent them to afford private insurance under the Affordable Care Act. It has to be reported on their tax return.
Those households which have not done so make up 40 percent of the 4.5 million households that were provided tax credits and must account for them or risk not getting them for 2016.
Of those, 760,000 households filed their returns and omitted the necessary reporting form, 710,000 never filed a return and 360,000 asked for an extension on their returns.
The tax credits average $272 a month.
The 2014 tax year was the first for which households had to report the tax credits, so it was incumbent on the Obama administration to inform those recipients their credits need to be reported.
But as with the Affordable Care Act's rollout and various other aspects of the unpopular program, not enough thought was given to details. For instance, many recipients were unaccustomed to filing tax forms because their incomes were so low.
"It could have been worse, quite honestly," Elizabeth Colvin of an Austin, Texas, nonprofit told the Associated Press. "I think a lot of tax preparers didn't know how to do these [forms] either."
"There is definitely room for improvement," said Judy Solomon of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
"We expect that taxpayers will continue to better understand this process as it becomes more routine," said Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen.
But as taxpayers, we also should expect details to have been worked out beforehand so that 40 percent of tax credit recipients' tax returns weren't correct or turned in by April 15.