ACA Subsidy Calculator: Premium Tax Credit and the 400% Cliff (2026-2027)

Yes, under the law as it stands. The 2021-2025 rules that removed the 400% limit and lowered everyone's share of income were written for tax years “before January 1, 2026” (26 U.S.C. 36B(c)(1)(E) and (b)(3)(A)(iii)), so for 2026 and 2027 the original rule applies: a household whose income is more than 400% of the poverty line gets no credit. The House voted on January 8, 2026 (230 to 196) to renew the larger credits for three years; I could not confirm that any renewal has become law, and this calculator assumes none has. If Congress changes the rules, the numbers here will be out of date, so look at the news before relying on it.

Three steps, from 26 U.S.C. 36B(b) and the Form 8962 instructions. First, your household income as a percentage of the poverty line for your household size (dropped to a whole number). Second, the share of income you are expected to pay toward the benchmark plan (the second-lowest-cost silver plan), from the table in Revenue Procedure 2026-26 for 2027: 2.15% below 133% of the line, rising to 10.22% at 300% and staying there up to 400%. Third, the credit is the benchmark premium minus that share, but never more than the premium of the plan you actually buy.

Example: one person in 2027 with $55,000 of income is at 344% of the line ($15,960 in 2026's guideline), so the share is 10.22% of income, $5,621 a year. With a benchmark plan at $850 a month ($10,200 a year) the credit is $4,579 a year and the household pays $5,621. A couple with $60,000 and a $1,700-a-month benchmark is at 277%, pays 9.50% ($5,700) and gets $14,700. The monthly premiums are illustrations, not market averages.

It is 4 times the poverty line for your household size, and the poverty line is the one HHS published in January of the year before (26 CFR 1.36B-1(h) and 36B(d)(3)(B)): the 2025 guidelines for 2026 credits and the 2026 guidelines for 2027. In the 48 contiguous states and D.C.:

• One person: $62,600 for 2026, $63,840 for 2027.
• 2 people: $84,600 for 2026, $86,560 for 2027.
• 3 people: $106,600 for 2026, $109,280 for 2027.
• 4 people: $128,600 for 2026, $132,000 for 2027.

Alaska and Hawaii have higher guidelines and therefore higher lines; choose them in the calculator. The line is inclusive: income of exactly 400% still gets a credit, and one dollar more gets none. For one person in 2027 that is $63,840: a $850-a-month benchmark gives $3,676 a year at $63,840 and $0 at $63,841.

Modified adjusted gross income (26 U.S.C. 36B(d)(2)): your adjusted gross income plus any foreign earned income you exclude, plus tax-exempt interest, plus the part of your Social Security benefits that is not taxed. Income of your spouse and of dependents who must file a return is added. Because it starts from adjusted gross income, taxable income you control (a Roth conversion, a traditional IRA withdrawal, selling investments at a gain) counts when it lands in the year, and the things that lower adjusted gross income (such as a deductible traditional IRA or HSA contribution) lower it. Roth IRA contributions you withdraw tax-free are not income. The Roth IRA withdrawal calculator on this site shows which dollars are which.

The credit is usually paid to your insurer in advance, month by month, from the income you estimated. When you file, Form 8962 recomputes it on your real income and any excess is added to your tax bill (36B(f)(2)). For tax years before 2026 that repayment was capped for households under 400% of the line; Public Law 119-21 section 71305 removed the caps from 2026, so for 2026 and 2027 you repay everything. Example: one person who expects $45,000 (so $5,866 of credit is paid in advance with a $850-a-month benchmark) and ends the year with $70,000 is over the 2027 line, has a credit of $0 and owes the whole $5,866 back. The “if your income turns out different” box above runs this for your numbers.

The credit is the lesser of the benchmark minus your share and the premium of the plan you buy (36B(b)(2); 26 CFR 1.36B-3(d)). The benchmark is the second-lowest-cost silver plan in your area, so a cheaper plan keeps the full credit and costs you less, down to zero if the credit is bigger than its premium; a more expensive plan leaves the credit unchanged and you pay the difference. This tool shows what each choice costs for the premiums you enter. Which plan is right depends on the doctors, drugs and deductibles you care about, which it does not look at.

The statute and the Form 8962 instructions list several groups, none of which the calculator checks:

• People who are eligible for other minimum essential coverage, which the Form 8962 instructions say includes Medicaid, CHIP, Medicare Part A or C and most employer plans; an employer plan counts only if it is affordable and provides minimum value (36B(c)(2)(B)-(C)). The affordability line is the share of household income the employee must pay for self-only coverage: 9.96% for 2026 and 10.22% for 2027 (Revenue Procedures 2025-25 and 2026-26).
• Married couples who file separately (36B(c)(1)(C); the Form 8962 instructions make exceptions for spouses living apart and for victims of domestic abuse or spousal abandonment), and anyone another taxpayer can claim as a dependent (36B(c)(1)(D)).
• People below 100% of the poverty line, with the narrow exception described in the Form 8962 instructions; the separate rule for lawfully present immigrants below 100% was repealed from 2026, and Public Law 119-21 narrows which lawfully present immigrants qualify at all from 2027.