Responsible buyer
Operations, finance, and compliance owners responsible for ACA Compliance & IRS 226-J Penalty Defense Engine.
Review desk · signal room
Aca226JProof
01 Thesis Every Applicable Large Employer (ALE) — roughly, an employer that averaged 50+ full-time and full-time-equivalent employees in the prior year ( Verified ) — must file Forms 1094-C and 1095-C with the IRS every year reporting, employee-by-employee and month-by-month, whether it offered affordable minimum-essential coverage. When the IRS's systems decide an employer failed, it mails Letter 226-J proposing an Employer Shared Responsibility Payment (ESRP). For 2025 those penalties run $2,970 per full-time employee under §4980H(a) and $4,460 under §4980H(b); for 2026 the (a) penalty rises to $3,340 ( Verified ). A mid-size employer's proposed penalty is routinely six or seven figures, and a December-2024 law created the first-ever six-year statute of limitations on these assessments while extending the response window to at least 90 days ( Verified ).
acairs226penaltydefense226j
Who this is for
A precise operating owner, not a generic audience.
Cost of the gap
01 Thesis Every Applicable Large Employer (ALE) — roughly, an employer that averaged 50+ full-time and full-time-equivalent employees in the prior year ( Verified ) — must file Forms 1094-C and 1095-C with the IRS every year reporting, employee-by-employee and month-by-month, whether it offered affordable minimum-essential coverage. When the IRS's systems decide an employer failed, it mails Letter 226-J proposing an Employer Shared Responsibility Payment (ESRP). For 2025 those penalties run $2,970 per full-time employee under §4980H(a) and $4,460 under §4980H(b); for 2026 the (a) penalty rises to $3,340 ( Verified ).
Outcome
10 The outcome we sell Outcome A — Accepted annual filing Deliverable: Forms 1094-C + per-employee 1095-Cs, correctly coded (Line 14 Series-1 offer codes, Line 15 employee-share amounts, Line 16 Series-2 safe-harbor codes), e-filed via IRS AIR, plus on-request employee furnishing and any state filings (CA, MA, NJ, RI, DC). Acceptance criteria: AIR status "Accepted" (not "Accepted with Errors" or "Rejected"); no §6721/6722 information-return penalties attributable to our work.
Decision rule
Proceed only when the source record, service boundary, responsible reviewer, and release criteria can be named before work begins.
Method
The work moves through visible states.
- Scope12 AI-vs-human operations pipeline AI Normalize payroll/benefits exports into the canonical monthly record.
- CollectRules Determine full-time status & run affordability math under elected method.
- NormalizeAI Generate Line 14/15/16 codes; reconcile 14765 PTC Listing; draft 14764 narrative.
- ValidateRules Validate AIR XML schema & business rules; run penalty-exposure simulation.
- ResolveOperator Clear structured exceptions; chase missing client data; assemble packet.
- ReviewEA / Attorney Select safe harbors, set reasonable-cause posture, sign & file under POA.
- ReleaseClient Receives Accepted receipt or Letter 227 reduction + audit-ready evidence file.
Engagement
Buy the reviewed outcome, with boundaries written down.
15 Pricing, pricing legality & unit economics Pricing model Recurring filing (Outcome A): managed per-1095-C fee, tiered by volume (illustratively $5–9/form at scale; Inferred ), with a modest annual base for eligibility tracking, sold with an acceptance guarantee — i.e., the outcome, not a software seat. Penalty defense (Outcome B): fixed engagement fee tiered by employee count and proposed-penalty magnitude (illustratively $7,500–$35,000 ; Inferred ). This is the primary model and the Circular-230-safe default.
Release package
- 10 The outcome we sell Outcome A
- Accepted annual filing Deliverable: Forms 1094-C + per-employee 1095-Cs, correctly coded (Line 14 Series-1 offer codes, Line 15 employee-share amounts, Line 16 Series-2 safe-harbor codes), e-filed via IRS AIR, plus on-request employee furnishing and any state filings (CA, MA, NJ, RI, DC).
- Acceptance criteria: AIR status "Accepted" (not "Accepted with Errors" or "Rejected"); no §6721/6722 information-return penalties attributable to our work.
- Promise: "Your filing is accepted by the deadline, or we re-file corrected returns free and cover any penalty caused by our error." Exclusions: Client-caused data falsification; coverage decisions the client declines to make; non-ACA tax matters.
Proof standard
Operating evidence: No verified cycle-time result is published yet. The first result will be calculated from accepted intake through qualified-human release.
Client evidence: No client identity or case narrative is published. A reference may appear only after written permission and factual review.
Volume evidence: No completed-client count is claimed. Counts will be published only after the delivery ledger and provider records reconcile.
Evidence room
Authority comes from traceable sources, not decorative claims.
- IRS — Information reporting by Applicable Large Employers (1094-C/1095-C)Source identified in the canonical blueprint; verify currency before client reliance.
- IRS — Employer Shared Responsibility Provisions (§4980H)Source identified in the canonical blueprint; verify currency before client reliance.
- IRS — IRM 8.7.21, Employer Shared Responsibility Payment (ESRP) under IRC 4980HSource identified in the canonical blueprint; verify currency before client reliance.
- IRS — Types of employer payments and how they're calculatedSource identified in the canonical blueprint; verify currency before client reliance.
- BoomTax — What is IRS Letter 226-J? Complete guide (2026), with penalty amountsSource identified in the canonical blueprint; verify currency before client reliance.
- Trusaic — ACA compliance & IRS penalty defense, complete 2026 guide (June 2026 update)Source identified in the canonical blueprint; verify currency before client reliance.
- Bressler, Amery & Ross — IRS Letter 226-J: what it is and how to respondSource identified in the canonical blueprint; verify currency before client reliance.
- Frier Levitt — ACA reporting relief: 90-day window & six-year statute of limitations (ERIA)Source identified in the canonical blueprint; verify currency before client reliance.
Service boundary
Automation prepares. A qualified human releases.
Aca226JProof is an operational documentation and processing service operated by Your Deputy, Obuke LLC. It is not a law firm and does not provide legal, tax, medical, financial, or other licensed professional advice. Consumer and personal debt matters are not accepted. The client retains its licensed professionals and decision authority. Automation may organize and check records, but a qualified human must review and release every client deliverable. Minimum-necessary data handling and professional review apply.
- Unsupported facts remain unresolved, never inferred into a client deliverable.
- Jurisdiction-specific or licensed questions are routed to the client's professional.
- Every correction retains the source, reviewer, version, and reason for change.
Questions
Know the limits before intake.
Is this legal or professional advice?
No. This is bounded operational documentation and processing support. Licensed judgment remains with the client and its professionals.
Does automation make the final decision?
No. It can organize records, run declared checks, and prepare an exception queue. A qualified human reviews and releases every deliverable.
Is a client portal or CRM already active?
This public site does not claim an active portal integration. Portal access is provisioned only after the relevant backend is configured and independently verified.
What happens when evidence conflicts?
The item is placed in an exception state with its sources and owner. It is not silently resolved or presented as verified.
Fit diagnostic
Send enough context to scope the next conversation—no sensitive files.
Do not submit protected health information, personal financial data, credentials, or confidential client records through this public page.