Full-Time Eligibility Calculator
Find out whether your business counts as an Applicable Large Employer (50 or more full-time and full-time equivalent employees) and must offer health coverage under the ACA.
Estimate your FTE count
Start with a quick one-month estimate, or enter all 12 months from last year for the average the IRS actually uses.
For each month of the prior calendar year, enter full-time employees and the combined hours of all other employees. Count no more than 120 hours for any one part-time employee.
| Month | Full-time employees | Part-time hours | Total |
|---|
How the rule works
How the ACA counts your employees
Under the Affordable Care Act, an employer is an Applicable Large Employer (ALE) for a calendar year if it averaged at least 50 full-time employees, including full-time equivalents, during the prior calendar year. ALEs must offer affordable, minimum-value coverage to full-time employees or risk an IRS penalty. Employers under 50 are not required to offer coverage under federal law, and Washington does not add its own employer mandate.
- Count full-time employees each month. Anyone with at least 130 hours of service in the month counts as one.
- Convert part-time hours to FTEs each month. Add the hours of all other employees, counting no more than 120 hours per person, and divide by 120.
- Add the two numbers for each of the 12 months.
- Average the 12 monthly totals and round down to a whole number. A result of 50 or more means you are an ALE for the following year.
| Example month | Count |
|---|---|
| Full-time employees (130+ hours) | 38 |
| 20 part-time employees working 1,500 hours combined | 1,500 ÷ 120 = 12.5 FTEs |
| Total for the month | 50.5 |
A single month over 50 does not make you an ALE by itself; it is the 12-month average that counts. See the IRS guide to determining if an employer is an Applicable Large Employer.
Common questions
Full-time eligibility FAQs
If we go over 50 in one month, are we an ALE?
Not by itself. ALE status is based on the average of your 12 monthly counts from the prior calendar year, rounded down. A busy month can be offset by slower months.
Do we have to offer coverage to part-time employees?
No. Part-time hours help determine whether you are an ALE, but the penalty rules only require an offer of coverage to full-time employees (130 or more hours a month) and their dependents.
How are seasonal workers treated?
Seasonal workers are included in the count, but there is an exception: if you exceeded 50 full-time employees for 120 days or fewer during the year, and the employees over 50 during that period were seasonal workers, you are not an ALE.
Do related businesses count together?
Yes. Companies under common ownership or control (a controlled or affiliated service group) are combined when determining ALE status, even though each company handles its own offers of coverage and reporting.
We started our business this year. How do we know?
An employer that did not exist for the entire prior year is an ALE for the current year if it reasonably expects to employ, and actually does employ, an average of at least 50 full-time employees, including FTEs, during the current year.
Not sure what your results mean?
Our brokers can confirm your FTE count, explain your ACA obligations, and build a benefits strategy that fits your business at no cost to you.
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