Free · 7 quick taps · Results emailed to you
The ACA compliance audit, before the IRS writes first.
Seven multiple-choice questions. Find out whether the employer mandate applies to you, roughly what a penalty would cost, and which gaps to close first.
Step 1 of 7
First, where should the results go?
We email you the read-out and a short written note from the team that files these forms. One email, no list.
We store what you enter here so we can send your results and follow up once. We don’t sell or share it. See our privacy notice.
How many full-time employees?
Anyone working 30 or more hours a week. A close guess is fine.
And part-time or variable-hour staff?
Hourly crews, therapists, seasonal help — anyone under 30 hours, or whose hours move around.
Do you offer health coverage to your full-time employees?
The law expects an offer to at least 95% of them. Below that, one employee getting subsidised coverage can trigger a penalty on your whole headcount.
What does your cheapest employee-only plan cost the employee each month?
Just their share for covering themselves — not family, not your share.
Last year’s IRS forms 1094-C and 1095-C — what happened?
These are the yearly forms proving you offered coverage. One per employee, plus a cover form.
Do you track your variable-hour staff over a set measurement period?
It’s called a look-back. You average someone’s hours over months to decide if they count as full-time. Skip it and your headcount can be wrong without anyone noticing.
The 2026 figures this uses
What we found
Based on the ranges you picked, so the figures below are ranges too. A written check by the team pins them down.
Figures use the 2026 amounts: $3,340 a year per full-time employee after the first 30 (§4980H(a)); $5,010 a year for each employee who takes subsidised coverage instead (§4980H(b)); $340 per form, and both copies count, so up to $680 per employee; coverage counts as affordable at 9.96% of pay, or $129.89 a month under the poverty-line safe harbour (Rev. Proc. 2025-25). This is an educational estimate, not tax or legal advice. Because you answered in ranges, your real numbers will sit somewhere inside these.
Your written assessment is on its way
We have your answers. Someone who files these forms for a living will read them and come back with what’s exposed, what to fix first, and what it takes to get current. No obligation — this is how we introduce ourselves.
Want the rules explained in plain English as they change? The Hipson Brief covers ACA filings, benefits and 401(k) updates:
Why companies fail this audit
It is almost never negligence. It is three structural blind spots.
Blind spot 01
"Our payroll company handles it"
Payroll platforms process paychecks; most do not measure variable-hour eligibility or prepare 1094-C/1095-C correctly. We have met payroll veterans of fifteen years who had never heard of look-back measurement.
Blind spot 02
"Our CPA handles it"
A two-person CPA shop doing your taxes is not tracking monthly full-time equivalents. One of our own 300-life clients found this out when Justin walked their CPA through the rules — on a call the CPA didn't know he needed.
Blind spot 03
"It's only a problem when you get caught"
True — and the IRS catches it from your own W-2 and exchange data, years later, with interest. Letter 226-J penalty assessments in the market have reached the high six figures. The fix costs a fraction of the letter.
Three minutes now, or a Letter 226-J later.
Run the audit. If you're clean, you'll know. If you're not, you'll know what to fix — and who does this every day.
Start the audit