Find your safe harbor rate before you set wages or finalize open enrollment contributions.
Use our ACA Affordability Calculator to find the lowest hourly or salary rate you can offer while keeping your employee-only medical plan affordable under IRS safe harbor rules. Updated for the 2025 (9.02%) and 2026 (9.96%) plan years.
Enter your figures — results update as you type.
This calculator estimates compliance under the IRS Rate of Pay safe harbor. It does not replace professional advice. Affordability rates are indexed annually — the threshold is 9.02% for plan years beginning in 2025 and 9.96% for plan years beginning in 2026 (it was 8.39% for 2024). Select the plan year above to match your situation, and verify with ACA 360 before finalizing rates.
The IRS gives employers three ways to demonstrate plan affordability. Most employers default to one — and miss the savings or compliance margin the others would provide.
For hourly employees: 9.02% of monthly earnings at 130 hours. Easy to administer, often the most generous for variable-hour workforces.
Based on Box 1 of Form W-2. Works for stable salaried populations but creates retroactive risk if income drops mid-year.
Uses prior year's FPL. The cleanest safe harbor — produces a fixed monthly cap (around $113/mo for 2025 plan years).
Getting affordability wrong triggers 4980H(b) penalties — $4,350 per employee who went to the marketplace and received a subsidy. Get it right before you finalize your plan.
We'll review your roster, premiums, and plan design and tell you exactly where you stand on affordability — and where you have margin to tighten.