IRMAA (Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount) raises your Medicare Part B and Part D premiums based on your MAGI from 2 years prior. The tiers stack, the cliffs are sharp, and the impact compounds if both spouses are on Medicare. This calculator shows your tier, your distance from the next cliff, and the annual surcharge — for each filing status.
Input your projected MAGI. We surface your tier, the next cliff, and the annual surcharge per beneficiary. All figures are 2026 estimated (released October 2025).
IRMAA is one of 12 retirement-tax interactions that compound across your 60s and 70s. The playbook also covers: Roth Conversion Ladder, RMD projection, Social Security claiming, asset location, and drawdown sequencing. We email the PDF.
The IRMAA calculator gives you the tier. Capping conversions, harvesting LTCG, and timing Social Security to stay under each cliff is what your CPA + adviser do together. A 15-min Discovery Call covers your real exposure.
Book a free 15-min call →Medicare Part B (doctor visits, outpatient) and Part D (prescription drugs) are subsidized for the vast majority of beneficiaries. But Congress decided that higher-income retirees should pay an "income-related" surcharge on top of the base premium. That surcharge is IRMAA.
The lookback: SSA uses your IRS tax return from 2 years prior. So your 2026 IRMAA is determined by your 2024 MAGI. Big Roth conversion in 2024? You'll feel it in your 2026 Medicare premiums. Big capital gain in 2024? Same.
SSA needs your finalized tax return to determine your IRMAA, and the IRS finalization timeline (return filed → assessed → reported to SSA) takes ~18 months. So your 2026 premium is determined by your 2024 return. The lookback creates planning opportunity — you know what you're dealing with two years before it hits.
Yes — but only if you had a "life-changing event": marriage, divorce, spouse's death, work stoppage/reduction, loss of pension, or receipt of insurance/settlement. File Form SSA-44 with documentation. Common scenario: you retired in 2024 (income drops), but 2026 IRMAA uses 2024's high earnings. Appeal with SSA-44 → SSA uses a more recent income year. Form SSA-44 (PDF).
If both spouses are enrolled in Medicare, both pay IRMAA based on the household MAGI. Double the per-beneficiary surcharge to get the household cost. If only one spouse is on Medicare (the other is younger and still on employer coverage), only that one spouse pays.
No — qualified Roth IRA distributions are not counted in MAGI for IRMAA purposes. This is one of the most powerful long-term reasons to convert during the pre-RMD window. Once converted, the Roth assets generate retirement income that never touches your IRMAA tier calculation.
Counterintuitive: tax-exempt municipal bond interest IS added back into MAGI for IRMAA. So while munis are federal-tax-free, they still push you toward IRMAA cliffs. For high-net-worth pre-retirees right at a tier line, sometimes a taxable bond inside an IRA beats a tax-free muni in taxable.
No — IRMAA recalculates every year based on the most recent 2-year-lookback. If your 2024 MAGI was high (one-time event), 2026 IRMAA hits hard, but 2027 IRMAA (based on 2025) drops back if 2025 income normalized. The cliff applies for one premium year only.
2026 estimated Tier 5 (highest): Part B surcharge ~$443/mo + Part D surcharge ~$81/mo = $524/mo per beneficiary. That's $6,288/yr per beneficiary — or $12,576/yr for MFJ couple both on Medicare. The Tier 5 threshold (MAGI $500K+ Single / $750K+ MFJ) is meant for high-net-worth retirees but catches business sellers and large Roth converters too.
The Foundation Review pulls IRMAA + Roth Conversion + RMD + Social Security + capital-gains stacking into a single 11-year plan calibrated to your specific balances and timeline. 90 minutes with Andrew + written report.
Book the Foundation Review →Guarantee: If we don't surface at least $5,000 of structural retirement savings, your $500 is refunded.
$500 · 90 minutes · Credited toward an engagement if we work together.
Good Deals is the planning workbook + advisory practice of Andrew Escher, CFA Charterholder + Investment Adviser Representative based in Austin, TX. Independent stack: Altruist for investment custody, BackNine for insurance placement, Good Deals for the planning layer that ties them together. We work with pre-retirees, HNW executives, and business owners who want structural tax + retirement planning — without the typical AUM-fee pitch.