A late ACA filing costs up to $680 per form, before the IRS looks at your coverage offers.
Miss the Form 1094-C and 1095-C deadlines and the IRS can fine you up to $340 per form to file late and another $340 per form to furnish late. Here are the deadlines, the penalty tiers, the larger employer mandate exposure behind them, and how to limit the damage.
Two deadlines, and a late form can miss either one.
Applicable large employers, generally those with 50 or more full-time employees including equivalents, report their offers of coverage on Forms 1094-C and 1095-C every year. When a date falls on a weekend or holiday it moves to the next business day.
To Employees (Furnish)
Forms 1095-C are due to employees by January 31. For 2025 reporting the IRS extended that automatically to March 2, 2026, and says no further extensions are granted. An employer may instead post a notice by that date, keep it up through October 15, and furnish a form within 30 days of any request.
To the IRS (File)
Form 1094-C and the 1095-Cs are due by the end of February on paper or March 31 electronically (March 2 and March 31 for 2025 reporting). Form 8809, filed on or before the due date, adds an automatic 30 days.
E-Filing at 10 Returns
An employer filing 10 or more information returns of any kind in the year must file electronically, and W-2s and 1099s count toward the ten. A waiver can be requested on Form 8508.
Who Must File
Applicable large employers: those that averaged at least 50 full-time employees, including full-time equivalents, in the prior calendar year. Each member of a controlled group files for its own employees.
What Counts as a Return
Each Form 1095-C is its own information return, so one late submission covering 100 employees is 100 potential penalties. The Form 1094-C transmittal is a return as well.
Which Employees Get a Form
Every full-time employee for any month of the year, and any other employee enrolled in a self-insured plan. The posted notice option changes how forms are furnished, not whether they are filed with the IRS.
Each late or wrong form carries two penalties.
Section 6721 penalizes failing to file with the IRS and Section 6722 penalizes failing to furnish the employee, so one missing 1095-C can trigger both. The tier depends on how quickly the correct return is filed. Amounts below apply to returns due in 2027; employers with gross receipts of $5 million or less get the lower annual cap.
Corrected Within 30 Days
$60 per return and $60 per statement. Annual cap of $244,500 for employers at or under $5 million in gross receipts and $698,500 above it.
Corrected by August 1
$130 per return and $130 per statement. Annual cap of $698,500 at or under $5 million and $2,095,500 above it.
After August 1 or Never Filed
$340 per return and $340 per statement. Annual cap of $1,397,000 at or under $5 million and $4,191,500 above it.
Intentional Disregard
$690 per return or statement for returns due in 2027, with no annual cap. The 2026 amount was $680. The 2026 tiers for the other three were the same $60, $130 and $340.
What a late filing costs in dollars.
These are illustrations, using the 2027 reporting penalty amounts and the 2026 mandate amounts shown on this page.
Late Reporting, 100 Forms
An employer with 100 full-time employees files and furnishes after August 1. That is 100 returns at $340 and 100 statements at $340, for $68,000, which is under the annual cap.
Fixed Within 30 Days
The same 100 forms corrected within 30 days of the deadline cost 100 at $60 plus 100 at $60, or $12,000. Speed alone cuts the bill by more than 80%.
No Offer, 80 Full-Time Staff
An employer with 80 full-time employees that offered no coverage, where one employee received a premium tax credit, owes $3,340 times 50 (80 less the first 30) for 2026. That is $167,000 before any reporting penalty.
Six steps once you know you are late.
The order matters. Accurate forms filed quickly beat perfect forms filed after the next tier begins.
Confirm What Was Missed
Compare the forms filed against your full-time roster month by month. List the employees with no form, a wrong form, or a form that was never furnished.
Build Accurate Forms
Rebuild each form from payroll hours and the offer record, so the codes on lines 14 and 16 tie to what you actually offered and what the employee would have paid.
File and Furnish Now
File with the IRS and furnish employees as soon as the forms are right. The penalty tier is set by when the correct return is filed, not by when you noticed.
Keep the Record
Write down why the forms were late and what you did to correct them. A reasonable-cause statement is only as strong as the record behind it.
Answer Any IRS Letter
If the IRS proposes a penalty or sends a Letter 226-J, respond by the date on the notice with corrected forms and a written statement rather than paying first.
Fix the Process
Put the dates on a compliance calendar and tie the forms to the payroll, enrollment and offer records. We can help you with the filing and help keep you ERISA compliant.
The reporting penalty is the small one. The mandate payment is not.
The IRS builds an employer shared responsibility inquiry from what employers reported and from which employees received premium tax credits. Late or wrong forms leave you without the record that proves what you offered.
4980H(a): $3,340 Per Employee
If an employer does not offer coverage to at least 95% of its full-time employees and at least one of them receives a premium tax credit, the 2026 payment is $3,340 for each full-time employee after the first 30.
4980H(b): $5,010 Per Credit
If coverage is offered but is unaffordable, fails minimum value, or is not offered to an employee who receives a premium tax credit, the 2026 payment is $5,010 for each such employee, capped at the 4980H(a) amount.
Letters Come First
The IRS notifies employers of potential liability on Letter 226-J and closes or advances the inquiry with Letter 227. The IRS says employers should not make a payment until it contacts them.
The questions employers ask about late ACA filing.
Six short answers. This is general information, not tax advice.
Can We File After the Deadline?
Yes, and sooner is cheaper. The tier is set by when the correct return is filed: within 30 days, by August 1, or later. File as soon as the forms are accurate rather than waiting for an IRS notice.
Does an Extension Help?
A 30-day automatic extension to file with the IRS comes from Form 8809, filed on or before the due date. The date to furnish employees was extended automatically for 2025 reporting, and the IRS says no additional extensions are granted.
Can the Penalty Be Waived?
The IRS can waive a penalty for reasonable cause and not willful neglect under Section 6724 and Treas. Reg. 301.6724-1. Keep a record of what happened and what you did to comply.
What Is the $100 Safe Harbor?
A wrong dollar amount on line 15 generally does not need correcting if no single amount is off by more than $100, unless the recipient opts out. It covers wrong amounts, not missing forms.
What if We Receive a Penalty Letter?
Respond by the date on the notice with the corrected forms and a written reasonable-cause statement. Do not ignore it, because an unanswered proposed penalty becomes an assessed one.
Can You Help With the Filing?
Yes. We can help you with the filing, and we help keep you ERISA compliant year-round. If you are already behind, send us what you have and we will tell you where you stand.
Do Smaller Employers File?
Employers under 50 full-time employees are generally outside the 1094-C and 1095-C rules. A self-insured employer of any size reports coverage, and a smaller one does so on Forms 1094-B and 1095-B.
Does Late Filing Trigger the Mandate Payment?
No. The reporting penalty and the mandate payment are separate. But the IRS tests your offers using the filed forms, so missing or wrong forms leave you without the record that supports them.
Which Year’s Amounts Apply?
The amounts follow the year the return is due. Returns due in 2026 use $60, $130 and $340 per return with caps from $239,000 to $4,098,500. Returns due in 2027 use the same per-return amounts with higher caps.
Where the rules and figures come from.
Every figure on this page comes from the statute, regulation or agency guidance below. Penalty amounts are indexed each year, so confirm the current figures before relying on them.
Instructions for Forms 1094-C and 1095-C
Due dates, extensions, the posted notice option and the $100 safe harbor.
IRS Employer Shared Responsibility
Letter 226-J, Letter 227 and the employer mandate overview.
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