IRMAA calculator for 2026 and 2027

What is IRMAA?

IRMAA, the income-related monthly adjustment amount, is an extra charge added to your Medicare Part B and Part D premiums when your income from two years earlier is above a set line: for 2027, a projected $112,000 for single filers and $224,000 for joint filers. At or below it, you pay the standard premium.

It isn’t a penalty and it isn’t permanent. Social Security works it out again every year from your newest tax return. And it is charged per person: if you file jointly and both of you are on Medicare, you each pay it.

Which year’s income sets your IRMAA?

Medicare looks back two years. Your 2026 premiums are based on your 2024 tax return, and your 2027 premiums on your 2025 return. If the IRS doesn’t have that return yet, Social Security temporarily uses the year before and corrects it once the newer return arrives.

That lag is what catches people. The income you have in 2026 (this year’s IRA withdrawals, Roth conversions and capital gains) sets your 2028 premiums. Nobody knows the 2028 lines yet, but they rise with inflation, so the 2027 table is a fair, slightly cautious guide for planning this year.

What counts as income for IRMAA?

IRMAA uses your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI): the adjusted gross income on your Form 1040 plus any tax-exempt interest. On a joint return it is the couple’s combined figure. Most retirement income counts, including the taxable part of your Social Security.

Counts:

• Wages, self-employment income, pensions and annuities
• Traditional IRA and 401(k) withdrawals, including required minimum distributions (RMDs)
• Roth conversions, in the year you convert
• The taxable part of your Social Security
• Interest (municipal-bond interest too), dividends and capital gains, including a home-sale gain above your exclusion

Doesn’t count:

• Qualified Roth IRA withdrawals
• Qualified charitable distributions (QCDs) sent straight from your IRA to a charity
• The untaxed part of your Social Security
• The $6,000 senior deduction and your standard deduction don’t reduce it either: both come off after adjusted gross income is figured

How do IRMAA cliffs work?

IRMAA isn’t phased in. Each tier is a cliff: one dollar over a line and you pay that tier’s full surcharge for the whole year. In 2027 (projected), a single filer at $112,000 pays nothing extra, while $112,001 costs $1,189.20 for the year.

For a married couple who are both on Medicare the jump is twice as big, $2,378.40. The next three cliffs are bigger still, about $1,800 a year per person each, while the last one, into the top tier, adds $600. Here is the projected 2027 table; the calculator above shows where you sit on it.

Want the official numbers in force now? See the 2026 IRMAA brackets, or how we built the 2027 projection.

How can you keep IRMAA down?

Plan your income two years ahead and aim to land just under a line, not just over it. The most useful moves are qualified charitable distributions from age 70½, Roth conversions sized to stop below the next line, and spreading large capital gains over more than one tax year.

• Fill up to the line, not past it. If you are converting to a Roth IRA, convert until you are a few thousand dollars under a threshold. Leave a cushion: a surprise year-end fund distribution can tip you over.
• Give from your IRA, not your checkbook. From age 70½, a QCD counts toward your RMD but never enters your income — up to $111,000 per person in 2026.
• Don’t buy municipal bonds to dodge IRMAA. Their interest is added straight back.
• Watch the first-year RMD double-up. Delaying your first RMD to April stacks two withdrawals in one year. Our RMD calculator shows both.
• Sometimes paying IRMAA once is the right call. One big Roth conversion that triggers a single year of surcharges can cost less than a decade of larger RMDs keeping you in a tier every year. Run both before you decide.
• Plan for the survivor. Below the top tier, the joint lines are exactly twice the single lines. After one spouse dies, the other soon files as single on much the same income, and IRMAA often starts.

Can you appeal IRMAA?

Yes, if your income dropped because of one of eight life-changing events, such as retiring, cutting back your work, or the death of a spouse. You file Form SSA-44 with Social Security and give a newer year’s income. The drop has to move you into a lower tier.

The qualifying events are:

• Marriage
• Divorce or annulment
• Death of your spouse
• Work stoppage (you or your spouse stopped working)
• Work reduction (you or your spouse cut back hours)
• Loss of income-producing property you didn't cause (disaster, theft, fraud)
• Loss or reduction of an employer pension (plan termination or reorganization)
• Employer settlement payment because of an employer's closure, bankruptcy or reorganization

Retirement is the classic case. Your 2025 return shows a full year of salary, but you stopped working in 2026: Social Security can use your lower 2026 income instead. A one-time spike from a Roth conversion or a sale doesn’t qualify. If the IRS figure was simply wrong, or you amended that year’s return within 3 years, ask Social Security to use the corrected number. The calculator above tells you whether an SSA-44 request would change your tier.

One trap: after a divorce or a spouse’s death, the newer year is judged on the single table, and below the top tier the single lines are half the joint ones. A widow whose income fell can still land in a higher tier, so check before you file.

Are the 2027 IRMAA brackets final?

Not yet. CMS is expected to publish the official 2027 table in early-to-mid November 2026; last year’s came out on November 14, 2025. Our 2027 lines come from the inflation formula written into the law, and the dollar amounts from the Medicare Trustees Report and the official Part D base premium.

One wrinkle: the October 2025 inflation figure was never published because of the government shutdown. Depending on how CMS handles it, the second, third and fourth lines could land $1,000 lower ($2,000 for joint filers). The calculator warns you if your income is that close. We’ll update everything the day CMS publishes.