diff --git a/drivers/iio/magnetometer/hmc5843.h b/drivers/iio/magnetometer/hmc5843.h
index 3f6c0b662941..242f742f2643 100644
--- a/drivers/iio/magnetometer/hmc5843.h
+++ b/drivers/iio/magnetometer/hmc5843.h
@@ -33,7 +33,8 @@ enum hmc5843_ids {
  * @lock:		update and read regmap data
  * @regmap:		hardware access register maps
  * @variant:		describe chip variants
- * @buffer:		3x 16-bit channels + padding + 64-bit timestamp
+ * @scan:		buffer to pack data for passing to
+ *			iio_push_to_buffers_with_timestamp()
  */
 struct hmc5843_data {
 	struct device *dev;
@@ -41,7 +42,10 @@ struct hmc5843_data {
 	struct regmap *regmap;
 	const struct hmc5843_chip_info *variant;
 	struct iio_mount_matrix orientation;
-	__be16 buffer[8];
+	struct {
+		__be16 chans[3];
+		s64 timestamp __aligned(8);
+	} scan;
 };
 
 int hmc5843_common_probe(struct device *dev, struct regmap *regmap,
diff --git a/drivers/iio/magnetometer/hmc5843_core.c b/drivers/iio/magnetometer/hmc5843_core.c
index 780faea61d82..221563e0c18f 100644
--- a/drivers/iio/magnetometer/hmc5843_core.c
+++ b/drivers/iio/magnetometer/hmc5843_core.c
@@ -446,13 +446,13 @@ static irqreturn_t hmc5843_trigger_handler(int irq, void *p)
 	}
 
 	ret = regmap_bulk_read(data->regmap, HMC5843_DATA_OUT_MSB_REGS,
-			       data->buffer, 3 * sizeof(__be16));
+			       data->scan.chans, sizeof(data->scan.chans));
 
 	mutex_unlock(&data->lock);
 	if (ret < 0)
 		goto done;
 
-	iio_push_to_buffers_with_timestamp(indio_dev, data->buffer,
+	iio_push_to_buffers_with_timestamp(indio_dev, &data->scan,
 					   iio_get_time_ns(indio_dev));
 
 done: