Do I need the ACORD 126 for a business owners policy?

Usually not as a separate form. A business owners policy packages liability and property, and most carriers quote it from the ACORD 125 plus their own BOP supplement. The 126 is for a standalone general liability policy or a package where liability is rated on its own.

What are the general liability class codes on the form?

Five-digit codes from the ISO classification system, one per kind of work, each rated on sales, payroll, area or units. A business can carry several. The agent assigns them from your description of the work, because the code, not the description, is what the carrier rates.

What happens if the sales figure on the 126 is too low?

Most general liability policies are auditable. At the end of the term the carrier checks actual sales or payroll against the estimate and bills the difference, or returns it. A low estimate is not a saving, it is a deferred bill, and a very low one can be read as misrepresentation.

A contractor’s office desk with a general liability application on a clipboard, a yellow hard hat, a second clipboard of estimates and a calculator, a construction site catching the sunset through the window

What does the ACORD 126 general liability section ask for?

The ACORD 126 is the general liability section that attaches to the ACORD 125. It asks for the limits you want, then for each location a classification code with its premium basis (gross sales, payroll, square footage or units), which is the number the rate is applied to. It then asks the questions that decide whether a standard carrier will write you at all: subcontractors and whether they carry their own coverage, products you sell or make, work at heights or underground, hired and non-owned autos, liquor, and prior liability claims.

Call/Text(626) 344-2158

Hard hat down. Estimates clipped. Calculator ready.The class code and the payroll decide the rate. The yes-or-no questions decide whether anyone will quote it.

/ Start here

General liability, explained.

What the policy covers, what it does not, and what it costs for your class.

General liability, explained

/ Don’t want to read all this?

Send us what you have. We’ll tell you if it’s right.

Your current policy paperwork, a renewal notice, or nothing at all. A licensed agent reads it and replies the same business day.

Have it reviewed Call/Text(626) 344-2158

The detail

The classification schedule on the ACORD 126 lists, per location and hazard, a class code plus the premium basis (gross sales, payroll, area or units), and that pairing is the field that drives the rate.
First Connect, "ACORD 126 Guide: Commercial General Liability Section"
Gross sales is the usual premium basis for a retail or service business, and payroll is the usual basis for contractors; the abbreviation entered has to match the basis the code is rated on.
Total CSR, "How to Complete the ACORD 126 Form for Insurance"
The location numbers on the 126 must match the locations listed on the ACORD 125, and each hazard at a location is numbered in sequence from one.
Vertafore Help, "ACORD 126 Commercial General Liability Section"
Beyond the classification schedule, the 126 carries general information questions on subcontractors, products, hired and non-owned autos and prior claims, which carriers use to decide eligibility before price.
Landesblosch, "ACORD 126: Everything You Need To Know"
In this agency's question bank, the fact underwriters chased most often on general liability submissions after the 126 was sent is the limits and coverages wanted, followed by the subcontractor arrangement, which the 126 asks for and applicants leave blank.
Boring Insurance question bank, 237 applications read, measured 2026-09-25

What this means for you

Know your sales or payroll before the call.The premium basis is a number from your books, not a guess, and a guess is audited at the end of the year and billed. Last year's figure and this year's estimate, by activity if you do more than one thing.
Subcontractors decide the answer for contractors.Whether you use them, what share of the work they do, and whether you collect their certificates. A contractor who cannot answer this gets a surcharge or a decline; one who can gets the standard rate.
The class code is chosen with you, not by you.A landscaper who also builds retaining walls is two codes, and the wrong one is the classic audit surprise. Describe the work plainly and let the agent pick the codes.

Go deeper on any of these

Need this handled?

Reading about it and having it handled are different jobs, and the second one is ours. We place the accounts other brokers decline — claims history, a cancellation, an unusual operation, a business nobody wants to underwrite twice — and we will tell you when the policy you already have is the right one. Tell us the situation and a licensed human replies the same business day.