Self-Employed ACA Subsidy Calculator

This calculator is hosted with permission from Samuel J. Ferguson, Ph.D. For the mathematical background of this calculator, please read Obamacare And A Fix For The IRS Iteration by Samuel J. Ferguson. For an example of when you need this calculator, please read When TurboTax and H&R Block Give Self-Employed Wrong ACA Subsidy.

Warning: this calculator is only for research purposes. We don’t take any responsibility for the results. This website does not provide any legal or tax advice. Consult a tax professional.

Use this calculator only if you qualify. Requirements include:

• Your health insurance is a qualifying plan from a government exchange.
• Your earned income from self-employment exceeds the net health insurance cost that you will deduct (for instance, it exceeds your annual unsubsidized health insurance premium).
• You are neither eligible for Medicaid, nor for an affordable health insurance plan from an employer or similar. Note that you qualify for Medicaid in a state with income-based Medicaid expansion if your modified adjusted gross income is less than 138% of the federal poverty line for your location and household size. If your state does not have income-based Medicaid expansion, you must still have modified adjusted gross income of at least 100% of the federal poverty line. You can use the subsidy calculator to check what your modified adjusted gross income would be if you tried to get a subsidy.
• You had coverage for all 12 months (if this is not true, expect a fraction of the subsidy equal to the fraction of months you had coverage).
• You will deduct net health insurance cost on your tax return.

Coverage Year:	2023 2024 2025
Did the ACA exchange pay any advance subsidy to the insurance company during the year?	Yes  No
Your household size:
Your state of residence:	Lower 48 Alaska Hawaii
Annual unsubsidized cost of the plan you purchased on the ACA exchange (Form 1095-A, line 33, column A):
Annual unsubsidized cost of the Second Lowest Cost Silver Plan for your household (Form 1095-A, line 33, column B):
Your Modified Adjusted Gross Income *before* any possible deduction for the ACA plan:

 

Appropriate subsidy amount:

With this subsidy, your net health insurance cost to be deducted on your tax return is: . This deduction may be limited if your subsidy repayment is capped.

With this net health insurance cost, your modified adjusted gross income is:

Your expected contribution toward a benchmark plan is:

Your subsidy can’t exceed

You are encouraged to check that your modified adjusted gross income gives the expected contribution indicated. Your net health insurance cost, though, can exceed your expected contribution. This occurs when you have more expensive health insurance than the benchmark plan, and (except in 2021 through 2025) when a subsidy cliff at 133% or 400% of the federal poverty line prevents a higher subsidy.