2027 ACA Subsidy Table: Rev. Proc. 2026-26 and the 400% FPL Cliff
The 2027 ACA applicable percentage table runs 2.15% to 10.22% of income and stops at 400% of the poverty line. The full table, in dollars.
Every summer, the IRS quietly publishes a revenue procedure that resets the math behind every ACA marketplace subsidy for the coming year, and most people never see it until tax software spits out a number they don’t understand. This year the document is Rev. Proc. 2026-26, released in July 2026 for plan year 2027, and it settles a question a lot of households have been asking since the enhanced pandemic-era subsidies expired at the end of 2025: is the 400% income cliff back?
The short answer: yes, as of late October 2026. The table the IRS published for 2027 runs from 2.15% of household income at the bottom to 10.22% at the top, and it stops at 400% of the federal poverty line. That is the original, pre-2021 design of the premium tax credit, not the no-ceiling version that applied from 2021 through 2025. No extension of the enhanced formula has been enacted for 2026 or 2027.
The full 2027 table, and how it compares to 2026
Section 36B of the tax code sets up the premium tax credit as a sliding scale: the lower your income sits relative to the poverty line for your household size, the smaller the share of your own money you’re expected to put toward a benchmark plan, with the credit covering the rest. The IRS updates the percentages each year through a revenue procedure, and Rev. Proc. 2026-26 applies to coverage purchased for 2027.
Here is the table exactly as the IRS published it, in Section 3.01 of Rev. Proc. 2026-26:
| Household income (% of FPL) | Initial % | Final % |
|---|---|---|
| Less than 133% | 2.15% | 2.15% |
| At least 133% but less than 150% | 3.23% | 4.30% |
| At least 150% but less than 200% | 4.30% | 6.78% |
| At least 200% but less than 250% | 6.78% | 8.66% |
| At least 250% but less than 300% | 8.66% | 10.22% |
| At least 300% but not more than 400% | 10.22% | 10.22% |
The “initial” and “final” columns describe how the percentage behaves inside each band rather than jumping in a single step. Within a band — say, 150% to 200% of the poverty line — the percentage a household is expected to contribute rises in a straight line from the initial figure at the low end to the final figure at the high end, under the mechanics set out in Treasury regulation § 1.36B-3(g). A household at exactly 150% pays close to 4.30% of its income toward the benchmark plan; one at 199% pays close to 6.78%. Only the bottom band (under 133%) and the top band (300% to 400%) are flat, since their initial and final figures match.
For comparison, here is the 2026 table from Rev. Proc. 2025-25, the revenue procedure that came out a year earlier:
| Household income (% of FPL) | Initial % | Final % |
|---|---|---|
| Less than 133% | 2.10% | 2.10% |
| At least 133% but less than 150% | 3.14% | 4.19% |
| At least 150% but less than 200% | 4.19% | 6.60% |
| At least 200% but less than 250% | 6.60% | 8.44% |
| At least 250% but less than 300% | 8.44% | 9.96% |
| At least 300% but not more than 400% | 9.96% | 9.96% |
Every figure in the 2027 table is higher than its 2026 counterpart, which is the expected direction: the revenue procedure says the indexing is based on the most recent projections of premium growth and income growth, and premiums have been outrunning incomes. What matters more than the year-over-year increase, though, is the shape of the table itself. Both the 2026 and 2027 tables start above zero and stop at 400% of the poverty line — the detail that separates them from the enhanced credit that applied from 2021 through 2025, which set the bottom band to 0% and removed the 400% ceiling entirely, capping the most anyone owed at 8.5% of income regardless of how high income climbed above the poverty line. The fact that the IRS’s own operative table for 2027 terminates at 400%, with no percentage published above it, is the clearest evidence that the enhanced version is not what the government is administering for 2027. As of late October 2026, no law has been enacted restoring it.
Which poverty guidelines apply, and the 400% cliff in dollars
The percentage table only tells you what share of income a household is expected to contribute. To find the actual dollar cliff, you need the federal poverty guidelines that apply to 2027 coverage, which are the 2026 guidelines published by the Department of Health and Human Services (specifically, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, or ASPE) in January 2026. The 2027 guidelines, due in January 2027, will govern 2028 coverage instead; we project them at about $16,680 for one person (2027 poverty guidelines projection).
For the 48 contiguous states and DC, here are the annual dollar figures at the income levels that matter most, for household sizes one through four:
| Household size | 100% FPL | 150% FPL | 200% FPL | 250% FPL | 300% FPL | 400% FPL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $15,960 | $23,940 | $31,920 | $39,900 | $47,880 | $63,840 |
| 2 | $21,640 | $32,460 | $43,280 | $54,100 | $64,920 | $86,560 |
| 3 | $27,320 | $40,980 | $54,640 | $68,300 | $81,960 | $109,280 |
| 4 | $33,000 | $49,500 | $66,000 | $82,500 | $99,000 | $132,000 |
Those 400% figures are the cliff, in dollars: $63,840 for a single person, $86,560 for a household of two, $109,280 for three, and $132,000 for four. A dollar above those thresholds, and eligibility for the premium tax credit disappears for the year.
Alaska and Hawaii use their own, higher base guidelines. At the 100% level, Alaska’s is $19,950 for a household of one and $41,250 for four; Hawaii’s is $18,360 for one and $37,950 for four. Every other percentage scales up proportionally, so the 400% cliff sits further out for households in either state.
If you’ve already worked through how your own household income translates into a percentage of the poverty line, our explainer on Form 8962 line 5 and the poverty-line percentage covers the mechanics the IRS uses to convert your income into that figure — including the truncation rule that can matter enormously near a boundary like this one.
What the expected contribution actually costs, by income level
The percentages in the table aren’t abstract. Multiply the percentage for a given income band by the actual income, and you get the dollar amount a household of one is expected to put toward its benchmark plan for the year, before the premium tax credit covers the rest. Using the 2027 table above and the 400% dollar figures for a single person:
| Income level (household of 1) | Annual income | Applicable % | Expected annual contribution | Per month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 200% FPL | $31,920 | 6.78% | $2,164.18 | $180.35 |
| 250% FPL | $39,900 | 8.66% | $3,455.34 | $287.94 |
| 300% FPL | $47,880 | 10.22% | $4,893.34 | $407.78 |
| 400% FPL | $63,840 | 10.22% | $6,524.45 | $543.70 |
Two things stand out. First, the expected contribution keeps climbing steadily from 200% up through 300% of the poverty line, then flattens: both the 300% and 400% rows use the same 10.22% rate, because that top band of the table is flat. Second, the dollar contribution at 400% — $6,524.45 a year, or $543.70 a month for a single person — is the single most important number for anyone near the edge of eligibility, because it’s the baseline the actual subsidy math is built from.
The cliff, worked through with a hypothetical benchmark premium
Numbers on a table are one thing; watching the cliff take a real credit away is another. Suppose the second-lowest-cost silver plan — the “benchmark” plan the premium tax credit is measured against — costs a 60-year-old in her county $1,100 a month, or $13,200 for the year. That’s a round number chosen for illustration, not a quote for any specific plan or location; benchmark premiums vary widely by age, county, and insurer.
At household income of exactly $63,840 — precisely 400% of the poverty line for a household of one — her expected contribution is $6,524.45 for the year, as computed above. Her premium tax credit is the difference between the benchmark premium and that contribution:
$13,200.00 − $6,524.45 = $6,675.55 in premium tax credit for the year, or about $556 a month applied to her coverage.
Now suppose her income comes in at $63,841 instead — one dollar higher. She is no longer at 400% of the poverty line; she’s over it. Under the table published in Rev. Proc. 2026-26, there is no percentage assigned to income above 400%, so there is no premium tax credit at all. Her credit doesn’t shrink from $6,675.55 to something smaller. It goes to $0.
That is the literal meaning of a cliff, as opposed to a phase-out: one additional dollar costs her the entire $6,675.55, not a fraction of it. The same math holds at any distance past the line — at $65,000 instead of $63,840, a difference of $1,160, the result is identical: no credit, full repayment of anything advanced during the year. Once you’re over the line, the size of the miss doesn’t matter; only the direction does.
The income figure that determines which side of the line a household lands on is its modified adjusted gross income (MAGI), plus the MAGI of any dependents required to file their own return — not gross income, and not what shows up on a pay stub. Our explainer on MAGI walks through what gets added back and subtracted to arrive at that figure. Anyone whose estimated income sits within a few thousand dollars of a household-size threshold above should treat that MAGI calculation as the single most consequential number on their return.
Reconciliation risk if advance credits were paid
The example above assumes the credit is claimed at tax-filing time. In practice, most marketplace enrollees take their premium tax credit in advance, month by month, as a direct reduction in what they pay their insurer — based on an estimate of income made during open enrollment, before the year’s actual income is known. That estimate gets reconciled against actual income on Form 8962 when the return is filed.
Two scenarios need separating. If a household received advance credit payments during 2027 based on an estimate under 400% of the poverty line and its actual year-end income lands above 400%, it is entitled to no credit at all and repays the full amount advanced. That was the rule before 2026 as well: the old repayment cap never applied above the cliff. The change is for households that stay under 400%. Public Law 119-21, section 71305, struck 26 U.S.C. § 36B(f)(2)(B), the provision that used to cap how much excess advance credit those households had to repay, on a sliding scale tied to income. That cap is gone for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2025, which covers tax year 2026 returns and every year after, including 2027. A household that underestimated its income, even while staying under the cliff, now repays every dollar of excess advance credit rather than a capped amount.
Who loses the credit outright in 2027: the October 2026 proposed regulations
On October 15, 2026, the Treasury Department and the IRS published proposed regulations under section 36B (REG-101576-26, 91 FR 65494) that rewrite the premium tax credit rules to match the 2025 reconciliation law, Public Law 119-21. Much of the document confirms changes already covered on this page: the repayment cap is gone for tax years after 2025, and a plan picked during an income-based special enrollment period doesn’t count as a “qualified health plan” for credit purposes. Two other pieces take effect with 2027 coverage, and they work differently from the 400% cliff: they take the credit away from specific people, wherever their income sits on the table.
Lawfully present immigrants who are not “eligible aliens”
For taxable years beginning after December 31, 2026, section 71301 of the law limits the credit, among noncitizens, to three groups the statute calls eligible aliens: lawful permanent residents (green card holders), people granted the status of Cuban and Haitian entrant, and people lawfully residing in the U.S. under a Compact of Free Association, the agreements with the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau. Anyone else who is lawfully present — refugees and asylees who haven’t yet adjusted to permanent residence, for example, or people with Temporary Protected Status — can still enroll in a marketplace plan but no longer counts toward the credit. This follows a narrower change already in force for 2026: lawfully present immigrants with income under 100% of the poverty line, who used to qualify when their immigration status kept them out of Medicaid, lost that route for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2025.
In a mixed-status household, the credit isn’t lost for everyone. The proposed regulations would have the taxpayer remove the excluded member’s share from both the actual premium and the benchmark premium, drop that member from family size, and scale household income by the ratio of two poverty lines: the line for the smaller family over the line for the full one. The arithmetic of that statutory method leaves the household’s percentage of the poverty line exactly where it was. Take a married couple with $60,000 of household income in which one spouse is a citizen and the other is lawfully present but not an eligible alien. Counted as two, they sit at $60,000 ÷ $21,640 = 277.26% of the poverty line. Counted as one, with income scaled to $60,000 × $15,960 ÷ $21,640 = $44,251.39, they sit at $44,251.39 ÷ $15,960 = 277.26%. What shrinks is the benchmark premium the credit is measured against, which now covers one person instead of two.
The paperwork would change to match. For households that received advance payments, marketplaces would report premiums on Form 1095-A with the excluded member’s share already taken out, starting with 2027 coverage. The preamble’s own example is a household with one citizen and one lawfully present member who is not an eligible alien, each with a $500 monthly premium: Form 1095-A would show $500, not $1,000, so the figure can go straight onto Form 8962.
Adults who lose Medicaid over the work requirement
The same law requires states to make “community engagement” a condition of Medicaid for most adults in the expansion group: at least 80 hours a month of work, community service or a work program, half-time enrollment in school, or a combination adding up to 80 hours, with an alternative income test. States must have it running by January 1, 2027, unless HHS grants a good-faith exemption, which cannot run past December 31, 2028.
For the premium tax credit, section 1902(xx)(7)(B) of the Social Security Act treats someone who would qualify for Medicaid but for failing that requirement as eligible for Medicaid. Medicaid eligibility counts as minimum essential coverage, and a month in which you’re eligible for it is not a coverage month, so it earns no credit. The proposed regulations would also switch off, in this one case, the usual safe harbor under which a marketplace’s finding that you are not Medicaid-eligible protects your credit. In practice the rule bites hardest on adults in expansion states with income between 100% and 138% of the poverty line: below 100% there is no credit to lose, and once income passes the state’s Medicaid limit, the work requirement is no longer what keeps them out of Medicaid.
The deemed eligibility doesn’t last forever. Under the proposal it stops applying in any month the person becomes ineligible for Medicaid for a different reason. Example 8 in the proposed regulations walks through it: a taxpayer denied Medicaid on January 1, 2027, solely over the work requirement buys a marketplace plan at full price from January, and a new job in March pushes income above the state’s Medicaid limit. January and February are not coverage months and earn no credit; from March on, the months can count again. Anyone who gave the marketplace incorrect information with intentional or reckless disregard for the facts loses that protection.
Already scheduled for 2028
The rest of the package looks one year further out. For taxable years beginning after December 31, 2027, a month won’t be a coverage month unless the marketplace has verified the enrollee’s residence and citizenship, U.S. national status or lawful presence; for months with advance payments, it must also verify household income, family size, the absence of other minimum essential coverage and, for lawfully present noncitizens, eligible-alien status. Each marketplace must also offer a pre-enrollment verification process that opens no later than August 1 of the year before coverage, which means August 1, 2027, for 2028 plans. The proposal would waive that verification for information given during a special enrollment period triggered by a change in family size — a birth, adoption or foster placement, a marriage, or the loss of a dependent through death, divorce or legal separation — so advance payments can start before verification finishes. Treasury estimates that roughly 50,000 families with newborns will benefit.
Treasury puts the reach of the package at about 15.6 million marketplace enrollees, 13.5 million of them potentially eligible for the credit, and estimates that about 3.7 million returns in 2028 will include a repayment of excess advance credit now that the cap is gone. The regulations are still proposals: comments are due by November 30, 2026, and a telephonic hearing is set for December 8, 2026, which will be cancelled if no one submits an outline to speak by November 30. That status matters less than it seems. The eligible-alien limit and the Medicaid work-requirement rule come from the statute itself, and the preamble notes that the statutory provisions behind the proposal override any conflicting language in the current regulations. What remains open to comment is mostly how those rules are carried out.
Two different “required contribution percentages” — don’t confuse them
One more figure carries the “10.22%” number for 2027, and it is easy to mix up with a different figure published around the same time each year. The Required Contribution Percentage under § 36B(c)(2)(C) — the same 10.22% named in the callout above — tests whether an offer of employer-sponsored coverage counts as “affordable” for premium tax credit eligibility. If an employee’s share of the premium for the cheapest self-only plan their employer offers exceeds that percentage of household income, the employer coverage is unaffordable, and the employee can still qualify for a marketplace credit instead.
CMS publishes a separate Required Contribution Percentage under 26 U.S.C. § 5000A, for a different purpose: testing whether someone age 30 or older qualifies for a hardship exemption that lets them buy a catastrophic plan. For 2027, CMS set that figure at 8.50%, up from 8.05% in 2026, computing it as “8.00 × 1.0627009451 or 8.50 percent when rounded.” Both agencies measure premium growth against income growth, but they apply it to different statutory starting points (the IRS indexes the section 36B table; CMS indexes an 8.00 percent base under section 5000A), so the results diverge. Using one where the other belongs is a mistake worth avoiding.
Other 2027 marketplace parameters worth knowing
A few more figures from CMS’s 2027 guidance round out the picture:
- Out-of-pocket maximum: for 2027, CMS set the maximum annual limitation on cost sharing at $12,000 self-only and $24,000 family — up from $10,600 and $21,200 in 2026, an increase CMS itself describes as approximately 13.2%.
- Reduced cost-sharing limits for CSR silver plans: households from 100% up to 200% of the poverty line, in the more generous cost-sharing reduction plan variants, get lower 2027 caps of $4,000 self-only / $8,000 family. Households from just above 200% up to 250% get a higher cap of $9,600 self-only / $19,200 family.
- The 150% FPL special enrollment period stays gone. CMS finalized extending the removal of the monthly SEP for people under 150% of the poverty line beyond plan year 2026, aligning the regulation with section 71304 of the 2025 reconciliation law.
- A one-year failure-to-file-and-reconcile policy for 2027. Exchanges on the federal platform will apply a one-year rule: a household that received advance credit for a prior year and didn’t file the Form 8962 reconciliation for it can lose eligibility for advance payments after just one missed filing, rather than two.
What to do with this before enrolling
None of this changes what a household actually owes until the year is over and the return is filed, but it does change how carefully an income estimate deserves to be built during enrollment. Anyone whose projected 2027 income sits within a few thousand dollars of their household’s 400% threshold should treat that estimate as the single most important number on the application: below the line, a mistake means repaying the excess advance credit, now without any cap; above it, it means repaying the entire credit for the year. Two kinds of households should price full-premium coverage before counting on any credit at all: those with a member who is lawfully present but not an eligible alien, and adults in expansion states who have been denied Medicaid over the work requirement.
For households near the edge, legitimate ways of lowering MAGI are worth a second look before the year locks in — pre-tax contributions to a 401(k) or traditional IRA, and contributions to a health savings account for anyone on an HSA-eligible plan (which, since 2026, includes individual bronze and catastrophic plans), all reduce the MAGI figure that decides which side of the cliff a household lands on. Our trackers on the 2027 401(k) and IRA contribution limits and the 2027 HSA contribution limits cover how much room those accounts have next year, and this site’s 2027 IRS inflation adjustments tracker tracks anything updated since this was written. Finally, income changes during the year — a raise, a new job, a change in household size — should be reported to the marketplace as they happen, not left to surface for the first time on next year’s return.
Sources
- Rev. Proc. 2026-26 (2027 Applicable Percentage Table and Required Contribution Percentage) — irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-26-26.pdf
- Rev. Proc. 2025-25 (2026 Applicable Percentage Table and Required Contribution Percentage) — irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-25-25.pdf
- ASPE, 2026 HHS Poverty Guidelines (detailed guidelines PDF) — aspe.hhs.gov; Federal Register citation 91 FR 1797, Document 2026-00755
- CMS, 2027 Premium Adjustment Percentage, Maximum Annual Limitation on Cost Sharing, and Required Contribution Percentage guidance (January 29, 2026) — cms.gov
- CMS, HHS Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2027 final rule, fact sheet — cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets
- Treasury Department and IRS, Premium Tax Credit, notice of proposed rulemaking REG-101576-26, 91 FR 65494 (October 15, 2026) — federalregister.gov
- Public Law 119-21, §§ 71119 and 71301–71305, enrolled text — govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-119publ21
- Public Law 119-21, § 71305 (repayment limitation on advance premium tax credit) — congress.gov/119/bills/hr1/BILLS-119hr1eas.pdf
- 26 U.S.C. § 36B — law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/36B
- finbarrow, Form 8962 line 5: your percentage of the poverty line — companion page on the truncation rule and the 2026 draft form
Quick answers
What is the 2027 ACA subsidy percentage table?
It is the Applicable Percentage Table in IRS Revenue Procedure 2026-26, published in Internal Revenue Bulletin 2026-31. For 2027 coverage, it runs from 2.15% of household income at the bottom of the poverty-line range up to 10.22% for the band running from 300% to 400% of the federal poverty line (FPL). The table stops there. There is no percentage published for income above 400% of the poverty line, which is what tells you the credit is not available above that line for 2027.
Is the 400% FPL cliff back for 2027?
As of late October 2026, yes. The enhanced premium tax credit formula from 2021 through 2025 had no income ceiling and capped the required contribution at 8.5% of income. That formula is not what the IRS published for 2027: Rev. Proc. 2026-26's table terminates at 400% of the poverty line, which is the original, pre-2021 statutory design. No law has been enacted extending the enhanced version into 2026 or 2027.
How much income is 400% of the poverty line in 2027?
For the 48 contiguous states and DC, using the 2026 HHS poverty guidelines that govern 2027 marketplace eligibility, 400% of the poverty line is $63,840 for a household of one, $86,560 for a household of two, $109,280 for a household of three, and $132,000 for a household of four. Alaska and Hawaii use higher base guidelines, so their 400% thresholds are higher too.
Do I have to repay the full advance premium tax credit if my income comes in over 400%?
Yes. If you received advance payments during 2027 based on an income estimate under 400% of the poverty line and your actual income lands above it, you are not entitled to any credit for the year, so every dollar advanced is repaid when you reconcile on Form 8962. That was already true before 2026, because the old repayment cap only protected households under 400%. What changed is below the line: Public Law 119-21, section 71305, struck that cap in 26 U.S.C. 36B(f)(2)(B) for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2025, so excess advance credit is now repaid in full at any income.
What is the difference between the 10.22% and 8.50% figures for 2027?
They answer two different legal questions. The 10.22% figure is the Required Contribution Percentage under 26 U.S.C. 36B(c)(2)(C), used to test whether an offer of employer coverage is "affordable" for premium tax credit purposes. The 8.50% figure is a separate Required Contribution Percentage under 26 U.S.C. 5000A, used by CMS for the hardship exemption and catastrophic-plan eligibility test for people 30 and older. They are indexed by different formulas and published by different agencies, and using one number where the other belongs is a common mistake.
Can lawfully present immigrants still get ACA subsidies in 2027?
Only some of them. For taxable years beginning after December 31, 2026, section 71301 of Public Law 119-21 limits the premium tax credit, among noncitizens, to "eligible aliens": lawful permanent residents, Cuban and Haitian entrants, and people lawfully residing in the U.S. under a Compact of Free Association. Other lawfully present immigrants, such as refugees and asylees who have not yet adjusted to permanent residence or people with Temporary Protected Status, can still buy marketplace coverage, but they cannot claim the credit for it. In a mixed-status household, the excluded member's share of the premium comes out of the credit calculation.
If I lose Medicaid for not meeting the work requirement, can I get a marketplace subsidy instead?
Generally, no. Under section 1902(xx)(7)(B) of the Social Security Act, added by the 2025 reconciliation law, someone who would be eligible for Medicaid but for failing the community engagement requirement is treated as eligible for Medicaid for premium tax credit purposes, so those months earn no credit. The proposed regulations published on October 15, 2026, say that treatment ends once the person becomes ineligible for Medicaid for a different reason, such as income rising above the state's Medicaid limit.
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