IRMAA Calculator (2026 brackets)

What IRMAA is and why it's based on your 2024 income

IRMAA stands for Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount. It's a surcharge added to your standard Medicare Part B and Part D premiums when your income crosses certain thresholds. It is not a separate bill — it shows up as an addition to what you already pay each month for Medicare, deducted from your Social Security check or billed quarterly if you're not yet drawing Social Security.

The part that catches almost every client off guard: SSA uses your tax return from two years ago to determine your IRMAA for the current year. So your 2026 IRMAA is based on your 2024 federal tax return. If you retired in 2025 and your income dropped significantly, SSA doesn't know that yet — they're still working from the 2024 return, which probably showed your final year of full salary plus any year-end bonuses, capital gains, or retirement-account distributions.

The income figure SSA actually uses is MAGI, or Modified Adjusted Gross Income. For Medicare purposes, MAGI is your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI from line 11 of your Form 1040) plus any tax-exempt interest you reported. For most retirees this is a small adjustment — most people's MAGI equals their AGI within a few hundred dollars. But for clients who hold municipal bonds, the tax-exempt interest line can push them across a bracket they thought they were safely below.

The two-year lookback feels deeply unfair when your life has changed. A retirement, a business sale, a divorce, the death of a spouse, the loss of a pension — any of these can drop your real income to a fraction of what it was two years ago, and yet your 2026 Medicare premium is still calculated as if nothing has changed. The good news is that SSA recognizes this and has a formal appeal pathway called the SSA-44, which I walk through later on this page. Most of my clients who file one get relief; many of them never knew the form existed.

2026 IRMAA bracket tables

The brackets below show what you'll pay in 2026 based on the MAGI reported on your 2024 federal tax return. Part B surcharges are added to the standard Part B premium of $202.90/month; Part D surcharges are added to whatever Part D plan premium you choose.

Married filing separately uses a deliberately compressed three-tier structure — Congress designed it this way so married couples can't reduce their IRMAA by filing separately.

Part B surcharges add to the standard $202.90 Part B premium. Part D surcharges add to whatever Part D plan premium you choose.

Life-changing events and the SSA-44 appeal

If your income has dropped substantially since the 2024 tax year because of a specific event SSA recognizes, you can appeal your IRMAA assessment using SSA-44 (Medicare Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount — Life-Changing Event). The form is two pages, and the standard of evidence is documentary — not a phone call, not a sworn statement, but paperwork SSA can verify.

SSA recognizes eight life-changing events. Each has its own documentation requirement:

• Marriage — certified marriage certificate.
• Divorce or annulment — certified copy of the divorce decree or annulment order.
• Death of a spouse — certified death certificate. This is one of the most common and most successful SSA-44 filings I see.
• Work stoppage (retirement, layoff, voluntary departure) — a signed statement from the former employer or copies of pension/401(k) distribution paperwork showing the date employment ended.
• Work reduction (cutting back hours, partial retirement) — employer letter documenting the change in hours and the corresponding income change.
• Loss of income-producing property due to disaster, theft, or fraud beyond your control — insurance claim documentation, police reports, or court records.
• Loss or reduction of pension income due to the plan's termination or reorganization — written notice from the plan administrator.
• Employer settlement payment resulting from an employer's closure or bankruptcy — court order or settlement agreement.

To file, you complete the SSA-44, attach your documentation along with proof of your new, lower income (a more recent tax return, pay stubs, or a signed statement estimating the current year), and either mail the packet to the address listed on the form or hand-deliver it to your local Social Security office. In my experience, walking it into the office in person and getting a date-stamped copy as a receipt is the safest route — mailed packets occasionally get lost or stalled in routing, and you don't want to be the one trying to prove a few months later that you actually filed.

SSA typically responds within 30 to 60 days. If they approve the appeal, the IRMAA adjustment is retroactive to January of the year in question, so you'll see a refund for any surcharge already deducted from your Social Security check. If they deny it, you have the right to a formal reconsideration and, after that, a hearing in front of an Administrative Law Judge.