How to Fill Out ACORD 126 (Commercial General Liability Section), Field by Field

By the end of this, you'll be able to fill out an ACORD 126 correctly — limits, trigger, the class-code grid, and the underwriting questions — without bouncing the submission back from the underwriter.

The ACORD 126 is the general liability section of a commercial submission, and it's where two things quietly sink a quote: the wrong claims-made vs occurrence trigger, and a class-code/exposure-basis grid that doesn't add up. This guide goes field by field. If you'd rather not key it at all, you can auto-fill the ACORD 126 from notes or a prior application and skip to the review.

What ACORD 126 actually is

ACORD 126 is the Commercial General Liability Section of a commercial lines application. It describes the GL coverage you're requesting and the exposures an underwriter rates it against. It does not stand alone — it attaches to an ACORD 125 (the Commercial Insurance Application), which carries the named insured, FEIN, locations, and policy dates.

The split matters: the 125 is who and where; the 126 is how the GL is priced. Limits, the coverage trigger, deductible, and the class-code grid all live here. If you're filling a fresh packet, do the ACORD 125 first — the named insured you confirm there is the one this form's header has to match.

Before you start: what you need on hand

Pull these once and the form fills itself:

• Named insured and effective date (must match the ACORD 125 exactly).
• Requested limits — each occurrence, general aggregate, products/completed-operations aggregate, personal & advertising injury, damage to premises rented, medical expense.
• Coverage trigger — occurrence or claims-made, and if claims-made, the retroactive date.
• Class codes and exposures — the ISO/GL class code per operation, plus the matching exposure figure: gross sales, total payroll, square footage/area, or units.
• Deductible — amount and whether it's per claim or per occurrence, BI/PD.
• Subcontractor info — do you sub work out, what percentage, and do you collect certificates and hold-harmless agreements.
• Prior coverage for claims-made risks — to set the retro date.

Section-by-section: how to fill out ACORD 126

Header — agency, carrier, named insured, effective date

Top of the form. The named insured and effective date must match the ACORD 125 character-for-character. A mismatch here is the number-one clerical reason a packet bounces. Put the producer/agency in the agency block, not the insured.

Coverage / Limits

The limits grid. Enter each requested limit — these are the numbers the policy will show.

Limit field	What goes in it	Gotcha
Each Occurrence	Per-event cap (commonly 1,000,000)	This is not the aggregate — don't put the same number everywhere by reflex.
General Aggregate	Policy-period cap (commonly 2,000,000)	Usually 2× each-occurrence, but confirm the carrier's standard.
Products & Completed Operations Aggregate	Separate cap for product/finished-work claims	Leaving it blank reads as "no products coverage" — fill it even if it equals the gen agg.
Personal & Advertising Injury	Per-offense limit	Tied to each-occurrence; spell it out.
Damage to Premises Rented to You	Fire/legal liability (commonly 100,000)	Carrier default varies; don't assume.
Medical Expense	Per-person med-pay (commonly 5,000)	Small number, easy to forget.

Claims-Made vs Occurrence

The single most consequential checkbox on the form.

• Occurrence covers claims for incidents that happen during the policy period, whenever the claim surfaces. It's the default for most GL.
• Claims-made only covers claims first made while the policy — or its extended reporting period (tail) — is active. It requires a retroactive date: the date back to which incidents are covered.

If you check claims-made, you must enter the retro date, and you should capture the extended reporting period (tail) terms. A claims-made box with a blank retro date is a guaranteed underwriter question, often a guaranteed bounce. If the risk has prior claims-made coverage, the retro date usually matches the original inception — don't reset it and create a gap.

Employee Benefits Liability

If requested, mark it, enter the limit (per employee / aggregate), the deductible, the retroactive date (EBL is itself claims-made), and the number of employees. Easy to skip; if the insured administers a benefits plan, they usually want it.

Deductible

Enter the amount and the basis — per claim or per occurrence — and whether it applies to BI, PD, or both. A deductible without a basis is ambiguous and gets kicked back.

Premium Basis / Rating

For each operation you rate, the row needs to internally agree:

Field	What goes in it	Gotcha
Class Code	The ISO/GL classification (5-digit)	Wrong code = wrong rate = re-quote. Look it up; don't guess.
Exposure (Premium) Basis	Gross Sales / Payroll / Area / Units / Each	Must match the class. Retail rates on sales; contractors on payroll; lessors on area.
Exposure	The actual figure (annual sales $, total payroll $, sq ft, # of units)	Use 12-month projected, not last year's if it's materially different.
Territory	The rating territory code	Drives the rate; pulled from the location.

The mismatch to avoid: a contractor class code paired with a gross-sales basis, or a retail code rated on payroll. Underwriters catch it instantly and send it back.

Schedule of Hazards

This is the class-code grid expanded across the account — the heart of the 126. For each location and each distinct operation, enter a row:

• Location # (ties back to the premises on the 125)
• Hazard / class code and description
• Premium basis (sales/payroll/area/units)
• Exposure amount
• Territory

One operation per row. A restaurant with delivery, or a contractor doing two trades, gets multiple rows. Underrepresenting operations here is how a policy ends up with a coverage gap the insured discovers at claim time. Map every revenue-generating activity to a class code.

Additional Coverages and Endorsements

Check the ones the account needs and note who they apply to:

• Additional Insured — name the entity and the relationship (landlord, GC, vendor); attach the schedule if there are several.
• Waiver of Subrogation — note the party.
• Primary & Noncontributory — common contractual requirement; flag it.
• Hired / Non-Owned Auto — if there's no separate auto policy and employees drive for the business, request it here or note the exposure.

These are usually driven by a contract the insured signed. If you have the certificate request, copy the requirements verbatim.

Contractors / supplemental questions

If the insured is a contractor, the form (or its supplement) asks the operations questions that rate the risk: types of work, use of subcontractors, height/depth of work, new construction vs service/repair, and percentage of work subbed out. Answer them — blanks here trigger a contractor supplemental request and stall the quote.

General Liability underwriting questions

The yes/no block that underwrites the risk. The ones that matter most:

• Do you sub out work, and what % is subbed? Drives whether subs' payroll is rated.
• Do you require certificates of insurance from subs? And what limits?
• Do you use written hold-harmless / indemnity agreements? A "no" here raises the rate.
• Description of operations / work performed — be specific; "general contractor" is not enough.
• Any prior claims, exposures to hazardous materials, products manufactured, or work above a certain height — answer honestly; a missed "yes" is a coverage problem later.

A blank or evasive answer here reads as a red flag. Answer every question; if it's genuinely N/A, write N/A rather than leaving it empty.

Remarks

Use it. One or two lines explaining anything unusual — a new venture, a class that looks higher than the sales suggest, a contractual additional-insured requirement — heads off an underwriter email and speeds the quote.

The mistakes that bounce a submission

1. Claims-made checked with no retroactive date. The single most common bounce — always pair the trigger with its retro date.
2. Class code and exposure basis that don't agree — a contractor on gross sales, a retailer on payroll. Match the basis to the class.
3. Named insured doesn't match the ACORD 125. Reconcile the header before you send.
4. Underreported operations in the Schedule of Hazards. Every revenue activity needs a class-code row.
5. Wrong or guessed class code. It rates the whole policy — look it up.
6. Blank underwriting questions on subs, hold-harmless, and work performed. Empties read as red flags; answer every one.
7. Limits left partly blank — especially products/completed-operations aggregate and damage to premises rented.
8. Deductible with no basis (per claim vs per occurrence, BI vs PD).

Fill it automatically instead

If the named insured, class codes, sales or payroll figures, prior coverage, and sub-contracting answers already exist somewhere — a prior ACORD, a dec page, an email from the client — you don't need to retype any of it. Salience's form-filler reads what you have, fills the ACORD 126's limits, schedule of hazards, and underwriting block, flags the fields it couldn't find (like a missing retro date), and exports the PDF ready to submit.

It's the same flow for the rest of the packet: the named insured you confirm once carries across to the ACORD 125 and the ACORD 140 property section without rekeying.

Fill an ACORD 126 now — free

FAQ

What is the ACORD 126 used for? It's the commercial general liability section of a submission — limits, the claims-made/occurrence trigger, deductible, class codes, and the GL underwriting questions.

ACORD 125 vs ACORD 126? The 125 carries the named insured, FEIN, and locations for the whole account; the 126 is the GL supplement that rates the liability coverage. Submit them together.

Claims-made or occurrence? Occurrence covers incidents during the policy period whenever the claim is filed; claims-made only covers claims made while active and needs a retroactive date.

What's in the Schedule of Hazards? A class-code row per location and operation: class code, description, premium basis, exposure amount, and territory — and the class code and basis must agree.