ACA Premium Tax Credit for 2027: Who Qualifies and How Much

Yes, the premium tax credit still pays for 2027 Marketplace coverage, on the original ACA scale: the enhanced subsidies ended December 31, 2025, and the House-passed extension (H.R. 1834) has sat on the Senate calendar since February. You qualify with household income from $15,960 to $63,840 for one person, or $33,000 to $132,000 for a family of four, and you pay 2.15% to 10.22% of income for the benchmark silver plan while the credit pays the rest. Open enrollment starts November 1: update your 2027 income at HealthCare.gov or your state's marketplace and pick a plan by December 15 for coverage that starts January 1.

Who qualifies for 2027

You need all five:

Income between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty line. 2027 coverage uses the 2026 poverty guidelines: $15,960 for one person, $21,640 for two, $33,000 for four, plus $5,680 per extra person (higher in Alaska and Hawaii). The 400% ceiling is $63,840 for one, $86,560 for two and $132,000 for four.
A metal-level plan bought through HealthCare.gov or your state's marketplace. Catastrophic plans and plans bought directly from an insurer get no credit.
Not eligible for other coverage: Medicaid, CHIP, premium-free Medicare Part A, TRICARE or an affordable job-based plan (test below). The credit ends once you can get premium-free Part A, even if you never sign up, and from 2026 advance payments after that are repaid in full.
Tax filing. Married couples file jointly, with an exception for victims of domestic abuse or spousal abandonment. A separated parent filing a separate return also qualifies after living apart from the spouse for the last six months of the year and paying over half the cost of a home where a dependent child lived more than half the year. Nobody can claim you as a dependent.
Citizenship or one of three statuses. From January 1, 2027, the immigrants who qualify are green card holders, Cuban and Haitian entrants and Compact of Free Association migrants.

Income means modified adjusted gross income: your adjusted gross income (Form 1040, line 11) plus nontaxable Social Security, tax-exempt interest and untaxed foreign income, for you, your spouse and every dependent who must file. SSI, child support and gifts stay out. With expected income below 100% of the poverty line there is no credit, and in a state that expanded Medicaid, income under 138% points you to Medicaid instead.

How much the credit takes off your premium

The credit equals the price of the benchmark plan, the second-lowest-cost silver plan for your household and ZIP code, minus your expected share: a percentage of income the IRS sets each year, 2.15% to 10.22% for 2027, up from 2.10% to 9.96% in 2026.

Household income	One person	Family of four	Your share of the benchmark plan
100% of poverty line	$15,960	$33,000	2.15% of income: $29 or $59 a month
150%	$23,940	$49,500	4.30%: $86 or $177 a month
200%	$31,920	$66,000	6.78%: $180 or $373 a month
250%	$39,900	$82,500	8.66%: $288 or $595 a month
300% to 400%	$47,880 to $63,840	$99,000 to $132,000	10.22%: $408 to $544, or $843 to $1,124 a month
Over 400%	Over $63,840	Over $132,000	No credit

Between the rows, the percentage climbs in a straight line, with one jump: from 2.15% just under 133% of the poverty line to 3.23% at 133%. Example: a single person earning $31,920 is expected to pay $180 a month. In Covered California's illustrative 2027 example, built on preliminary rates, the benchmark silver plan for a 40-year-old in Sacramento County costs $688, so the federal credit comes to $508 a month.

Any metal level works, and a plan priced below the credit costs $0. If you also qualify for cost-sharing reductions, the lower deductibles and copays come only with silver.
The cliff is real. A couple earning $86,560 pays at most $737 a month for the benchmark plan. At $86,561 they pay full price.

The job-based coverage test: 10.22% for 2027

A job-based offer blocks the credit when the plan meets minimum value (it pays at least 60% of covered costs, as most job plans do) and is affordable: for 2027, the employee's share of the lowest-cost self-only plan is less than 10.22% of household income. For a household earning $50,000, the line sits at about $426 a month.

Spouses and children are tested on the employee's cost to cover the whole household. If the self-only price passes and the family price fails, only the family members can get the credit. Anyone enrolled in the job plan gets no credit for those months.

Advance payments and paying back on Form 8962

The Marketplace pays the credit to your insurer monthly, based on your income estimate; you use all, part or none of it. On your 2027 return, Form 8962 compares the advance payments on your Form 1095-A with the credit your final income earns. Any year with advance payments requires a return with Form 8962, even below the filing threshold.

Took too little: the difference adds to your refund or cuts what you owe.
Took too much: you repay all of it. The repayment caps ended after tax year 2025, so this already applies to the 2026 return you file next spring; report a 2026 income rise now to shrink it.
Finished the year above 400%: every advance dollar comes back. If the Marketplace paid $300 a month toward your premium, you owe $3,600 with your return.

Apply during open enrollment: step by step

Open the two letters due by November 1 from your insurer and the Marketplace. They show which plan you'll be re-enrolled in if you do nothing by December 15.
Estimate 2027 household income: start with your latest Form 1040, line 11, adjust for a new job, fewer hours or a raise, and use federal taxable wages from pay stubs or expected profit after expenses if self-employed.
If anyone in the household is offered job-based insurance, ask the employer to fill out the Employer Coverage Tool with the cheapest plan's employee cost.
On or after November 1, log in at HealthCare.gov or your state marketplace, update the 2027 application with your income and household, and compare plans by premium plus deductible.
Choose how much advance credit to use, enroll by December 15 for a January 1 start, and pay the first premium to the insurer. Enrolling December 16 to January 15 starts coverage February 1.
Save the eligibility notice. It shows the savings you qualify for, and you have 90 days from its date to appeal.

The January 15 end (January 31 in California) comes from a June 2026 court ruling against a shorter window. If the government wins its appeal (Fourth Circuit case 26-1938, set for argument October 30), the 2025 rule could return, ending open enrollment December 15 on HealthCare.gov and by December 31 in state marketplaces. Enroll by December 15 (December 31 in California) and your January 1 start holds either way.

Free in-person help: search your ZIP code at HealthCare.gov local help, or call 1-800-318-2596 (TTY 1-855-889-4325).

Where it splits

If your income sits near the 400% line, take less advance credit, or none, and claim the rest on your return. Pre-tax retirement contributions through payroll and deductible traditional IRA contributions lower the income that counts.

If you just lost a job, you have 60 days from losing job-based coverage to enroll in a Marketplace plan. Turn down COBRA within that window to keep the credit; months enrolled in COBRA get none, and dropping COBRA early on your own opens no window until the next open enrollment. Compare prices with COBRA vs. Marketplace after job loss.

If you are lawfully present without a green card, for example a refugee, asylee, TPS holder or visa holder, the credit ends for you on January 1, 2027. You can still buy a Marketplace plan at full price, children and pregnant women get Medicaid or CHIP in some states, and family members with a qualifying status keep their credit.

If you live in California, apply at CoveredCA.com or call (800) 300-1506. Open enrollment runs November 1 to January 31; enroll by December 31 for a January 1 start. California adds its own help in 2027:

Under 150% of the poverty line, your share of the benchmark plan drops to 0% of income, so a $0 silver plan is available.
From 150% to 200% ($23,940 to $31,920 for one person, $49,500 to $66,000 for a family of four), your share runs 1.5 percentage points below the federal one: 2.80% to 5.28%.
Every Covered California member gets a $1 monthly state premium credit.

In the Sacramento example, the 40-year-old earning $31,920 pays $139 a month for the $688 benchmark plan instead of $180. Lower incomes go to Medi-Cal.

What you can get and your leverage

A Marketplace appeal within 90 days of your eligibility notice if you were denied the credit or think the amount is wrong.
A corrected Form 1095-A. Call the Marketplace about wrong people or months; get a missing or wrong benchmark price from the HealthCare.gov tax tool. Covered California members use its online dispute form to get corrected tax forms.
Time to repay through an IRS payment plan when the repayment is more than you can pay at once, and free filing through VITA, TCE or IRS Free File.

If the IRS bills you for excess credit and you think the 1095-A or the income figure is wrong, a Low Income Taxpayer Clinic can represent you for free or a small fee; clinics serve taxpayers under an income limit and usually take disputes under $50,000.

Call script for the Marketplace

"I'm updating my 2027 application. We are [number] people on one tax return, expecting 2027 household income of $[amount]. [Name] is offered insurance through [employer]: the lowest-cost self-only plan costs the employee $[amount] a month, and family coverage $[amount]. Please tell me our monthly premium tax credit and any cost-sharing reductions, and set our advance payment to [all / $amount]."

Today, and what comes next

Today: pull your latest Form 1040, write down a 2027 household income estimate and find its row in the table. On November 1, update your application and enroll by December 15 (December 31 in California) for a January 1 start. Next come an eligibility notice and the insurer's first bill, already reduced by the credit; in early 2028, Form 1095-A arrives for your Form 8962.