How are the 2025 PTC repayment caps calculated by income band and filing status (specific dollar amounts)?
Executive summary
The Premium Tax Credit (PTC) repayment caps for the 2025 tax year limit how much a taxpayer with household income under 400 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) must repay if advance payments (APTC) exceed the final credit; the cap amount varies by household income band and filing status, and the caps expire after 2025 so there is no cap for tax years beginning in 2026 or later [1] [2]. The IRS and its 2025 guidance point filers to the dollar limits in the Form 8962/Instructions and Revenue Procedure table; for 2025 the commonly cited caps are $350, $1,050 and $1,450 for single filers across rising income bands, with the cap for married filing jointly and "all other filers" generally equal to twice the unmarried/single amount [3] [4] [5] [6].
1. How the caps are structured: income bands tied to the federal poverty level
Repayment caps apply only when household modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is less than 400% of the FPL; the IRS and analysts present the limits in bands of MAGI as a percentage of FPL (roughly under 200%, 200–299%, and 300–399%), and the applicable dollar limit depends on which band the final MAGI falls into for the tax year [1] [6]. The IRS directs filers to reconcile APTC on Form 8962 and to apply the table of repayment limits in the Form 8962 instructions or associated revenue procedure to determine the capped amount [3] [1].
2. Specific dollar caps for unmarried/single filers (2025 tax year, commonly cited values)
The most widely reported and IRS-consistent figures for 2025 caps on excess APTC repayment for unmarried/single filers are: $350 if final household income is under 200% of FPL; $1,050 if income is between about 200% and 299% of FPL; and $1,450 if income is between about 300% and 399% of FPL [4] [5] [6]. These amounts appear in practitioner and IRS guidance references (Form 8962 instructions and the IRS fact sheet directing filers to the revenue procedure table) and are the baseline numbers used in tax-practitioner commentary [3] [1] [6].
3. Married filing jointly and "all other filers": typically double the single limits
The revenue-procedure approach and explanatory sources state that the applicable dollar limit for "all other tax filers" is twice the limit for unmarried individuals, meaning married filing jointly caps are customarily $700, $2,100 and $2,900 respectively across the corresponding income bands for 2025 [6] [5]. Practitioners and tax help sites repeat this doubling rule when translating the IRS table for household planning and Form 8962 entries [3] [5].
4. The cliff at 400% FPL and the sunset of caps after 2025
If final household income is at or above 400% of the FPL for the tax year, there is no statutory repayment cap and taxpayers must generally repay the full excess APTC; moreover, the temporary statutory expansions that left caps in place through the 2025 coverage year expire at the end of 2025, and the IRS has explicitly warned that there will be no repayment cap for tax years after 2025 [2] [1] [7]. Multiple tax analysis pieces and official IRS fact sheets emphasize that the removal of the cap is a material change for 2026 and later [8] [9].
5. Caveats, discrepancies and where to confirm the exact dollar table
State and secondary sources sometimes illustrate examples that can appear inconsistent with the simple doubling rule or the three-band presentation (for example, a Covered California example of a two-person household lists a $1,950 repayment cap for a particular income range), and that reflects either a different household-size calculation or use of the IRS table specific to family size — the authoritative numeric limits for any taxpayer remain the IRS Form 8962 instructions and the Revenue Procedure table (Revenue Procedure 2024‑40) referenced in IRS guidance [10] [3] [6]. Given small variations in how examples are presented, practitioners should consult the IRS instructions for Form 8962 or Revenue Procedure referenced by the IRS fact sheet to apply the exact dollar limit to a particular family size and filing status [3] [1].