Affordable Care Act estimator tools

The Taxpayer Advocate Service has developed several tools for individuals and employers to help determine how the Affordable Care Act might affect them and to estimate ACA related credits and payments. 

Under the recently enacted Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, taxpayers must continue to report coverage, qualify for an exemption, or pay the individual shared responsibility payment for tax years 2017 and 2018.

Individuals

Because these tools provide only an estimate, you should not rely upon them as an accurate calculation of the information you will report on your tax return. You should use these estimators only as a guide to assist you in making decisions regarding your tax situation.

The Premium Tax Credit Change Estimator can help you estimate how your premium tax credit will change if your income or family size changes during the year. This estimator tool does not report changes in circumstances to your Marketplace. To report changes and to adjust the amount of your advance payments of the premium tax credit you must contact your Health Insurance Marketplace. Be sure to report all changes directly to that Marketplace because they can affect both your coverage and your final credit when you file your federal tax return.

The Individual Shared Responsibility Payment Estimator can help you estimate the amount you may have to pay if you did not have minimum essential coverage during the year. This tool can only provide an estimate of your individual shared responsibility payment. To determine the payment when you file your tax return, use the Shared Responsibility Payment Worksheet (Obsolete) in the instructions for Form 8965.

Employers

The Employer Shared Responsibility Provision Estimator can help employers understand how the provision works and how it may apply. If you are an employer, you can use the estimator to determine:

• The number of your full-time employees, including full-time equivalent employees,
• Whether you might be an applicable large employer, and
• If you are an applicable large employer, an estimate of the maximum amount of the potential liability for the employer shared responsibility payment that could apply to you based on the number of full-time employees that you report if you fail to offer coverage to your full-time employees.

This tool can only provide an estimate of the maximum amount of potential liability for the employer shared responsibility payment. Estimates are based upon information you enter into the system and, therefore, IRS cannot validate specific payment amounts.  

The Small Business Health Care Tax Credit Estimator can help you determine if you might be eligible for the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit and how much credit you might receive. This tool provides you with an estimate for tax year 2014 and beyond. However, some figures used in determining the credit are indexed for inflation. Because of this, for future years, the estimator cannot provide a detailed estimate.

Additional information

By clicking on these links, you will enter the Taxpayer Advocate Service website.  The Taxpayer Advocate Service created, operates, and maintains this website and is solely responsible for the content.  

The calculations provided by the TAS Estimator Tools are only estimates and may not match the actual credits or payments you will report on your tax return. IRS cannot validate the accuracy of the estimator calculations for your specific circumstance.

To demonstrate how the estimators may help you, TAS has created two YouTube videos –

•  Individuals - Individual Shared Responsibility Payment and Premium Tax Credit estimators
•  Employers - Small Business Health Care Tax Credit and Employer Shared Responsibility Provision estimators

TAS is an independent organization within the IRS whose job is to ensure every taxpayer is treated fairly and that taxpayers know and understand their rights.