Turn your I-9 error rate into the fine ICE would assess, before the three-day Notice of Inspection clock runs out
| Substantive error rate | — | % |
|---|---|---|
| Base fine per form | — | USD |
| Five-factor adjustment | — | % |
| Adjusted fine per form | — | USD |
| Paperwork fine | — | USD |
| Knowing-hire fine | — | USD |
| Total fine exposure | — | USD |
| Cost of missing the 10-day correction window | — | USD |
This page is the working piece. The full pack has everything below.
Turn your I-9 error rate into the fine ICE would assess, before the three-day Notice of Inspection clock runs out
One uncorrected Form I-9 error is fined $288 to $2,861 per form under the DHS penalty schedule effective January 2, 2025 - the schedule still in force in 2026.
Buy the full version — $60It rebuilds ICE's own fine worksheet. The sample binder returns $50,316 of total exposure and $77,847 more if the fixable errors lapse: 120 Forms I-9, 31 substantive violations, 18 still-fixable technical errors, 2 knowing-hire workers, a 25.8% error rate, a $1,317 base fine per form and a $42,875 paperwork fine at the first-offense tier.
US HR managers, payroll leads and in-house counsel at companies of roughly 50 to 500 employees who have just been served a Notice of Inspection, or who are auditing their own I-9 binder before ICE does. It is written for the person who has three business days to produce the forms.
Because chatbots quote the wrong year. The per-form range is $288 to $2,861, set by the January 2, 2025 DHS schedule and still in force in 2026, and in March 2026 ICE reclassified many errors that used to be fixable as substantive. A model trained earlier prices your binder on rules that no longer apply.
Every calculation is free and unlimited, with no key, in the popup and in the browser page: band, base fine, adjustment, knowing-hire tier and total exposure. The $60 key adds two things on a different axis, keeping and repeating: a CSV fine worksheet you own, and an alarm set on the inspection date you entered.
The comparison is the fine itself. One uncorrected Form I-9 error is assessed at $288 to $2,861 per form under the DHS schedule effective January 2, 2025, and a knowingly employed worker runs from $716 to $28,619 depending on offense. A single form caught early pays for the tool many times over.
One question, answered by the person who built it. Your email only if you want the answer sent.