What IRMAA Actually Is
IRMAA — the Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount — is a surcharge added to your Medicare Part B (and Part D) premium if your income is above certain thresholds. It’s not a penalty for doing something wrong; it’s simply a higher-income adjustment built into how Medicare premiums are structured, similar in spirit to progressive tax brackets.
How Your Income Is Checked
IRMAA is based on your Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) from your tax return two years prior — your 2026 Part B premium is based on your 2024 tax return. That two-year lag catches some people off guard: a high-income year from a home sale, a large retirement account withdrawal, or a final year of full-time work can trigger an IRMAA surcharge two years later, even after your income has dropped.
Why the Lag Matters
Because IRMAA looks backward, retirement itself is one of the most common triggers for an unexpected surcharge — and also one of the most common reasons to request a correction. If you’ve had a “life-changing event” since the tax year IRMAA is based on — retirement, marriage, divorce, death of a spouse, loss of income-producing property, or an employer settlement — you can file Form SSA-44 with Social Security to request that IRMAA be recalculated using more current income information instead of the two-year-old tax return.
What This Means for Your Budget
If you’re approaching Medicare eligibility or already enrolled and your income has recently changed, it’s worth checking whether your current Part B premium reflects an outdated income picture. Reviewing this alongside your broader retirement income planning — Social Security timing, retirement account withdrawals, any Roth conversions — can help you avoid triggering IRMAA thresholds unnecessarily in future years, since MAGI includes more than just wages.
The Bottom Line
IRMAA isn’t something you can opt out of if your income qualifies, but it also isn’t fixed in stone if your circumstances have genuinely changed. Understanding both the two-year lookback and the life-changing-event exception gives you a clearer picture of what you’re actually paying and why.
Have questions? Schedule a free review with Kayla Price, a licensed insurance agent at Price Services Group. Call 866-648-1578 or visit priceservicesgroup.com/schedule.
Price Services Group, LLC is not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. government or the federal Medicare program. NPN: 18530055 | Agency NPN: 20387435