ACA Cliff CalculatorIRS · HHS · Primary sources
2026 Cliff Regime

The cliff is back. Find your edge.

2026 ACA Premium Tax Credit cliff distance, PTC dollar value, and ranked MAGI moves to recapture the subsidy.

Your situation

Member ages
self

Coverage

Income

You're under the cliff

100%138%200%300%400%

You are at 319% of the federal poverty level.

Annual PTC
$840
$70 / month
MAGI headroom before cliff
$12,600
until you hit 400% FPL

PTC dollar values use a state-level SLCSP estimate; verify your exact second-lowest-cost Silver plan on healthcare.gov for your zip.

FAQ

Is the ACA subsidy cliff back in 2026?
Yes. The IRA/ARPA enhanced PTC expired 2025-12-31. IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-25 sets the 2026 applicable-percentage table with no row above 400% FPL — a hard cliff. Households with MAGI above 400% FPL receive no Premium Tax Credit for plan year 2026 unless Congress passes a pending extension.
What counts as MAGI for the PTC?
Adjusted Gross Income plus tax-exempt interest, the non-taxable portion of Social Security benefits, and foreign earned income excluded under §911. Calculator inputs accept all three above-AGI additions explicitly.
How precise is the SLCSP estimate?
State×age-band averages from KFF and CMS rate-filing aggregations. Individual zip codes deviate ±20-30% from state averages. The cliff distance itself (income-only) is exact; only PTC dollar values are bounded estimates. Verify your zip on healthcare.gov.
What is a MAGI move?
A pre-year-end action that reduces MAGI — HSA contribution, deductible IRA, SEP-IRA, deferring a Roth conversion, harvesting capital losses. The calculator ranks these by dollar value of PTC recaptured and feasibility for your specific income shape.
Does the calculator handle self-employed health insurance?
The SEHI deduction is circular with the PTC — SEHI reduces MAGI, which affects PTC, which feeds back into SEHI. IRS Pub 974 Worksheet W has a two-iteration convergence procedure. The calculator surfaces SEHI as a ranked MAGI move when self-employment income is present.
What happens if Congress extends the enhanced PTC?
Flip NEXT_PUBLIC_ACA_REGIME to "smoothed". The engine and copy both regime-adapt: under the smoothed regime there is no upper cliff; the applicable percentage is capped at 8.5% for incomes above 400% FPL.