Last Updated: October 8, 2026 Reading Time: 9 min

Your 2026 Medicare Part B premium was normally set from your 2024 tax return, or from 2023 if SSA lacked the 2024 data. If 2024 was a full GS salary year and you have since retired, you may be paying an income-related surcharge (IRMAA) on income you no longer have. Retirement is a "work stoppage," one of the life-changing events Social Security recognizes, and Form SSA-44 is how you ask SSA to use your lower retirement income instead. The rules include a filing window, an evidence list, and a per-spouse catch.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does retiring from federal service count as a life-changing event for IRMAA?

Yes. Stopping work is one of the listed events in 20 C.F.R. § 418.1205, and SSA's manual (POMS HI 01120.030) names retirement as an example of a work stoppage. The event counts only if it causes a reduction that moves you to a lower IRMAA tier.

Can I appeal an IRMAA surcharge caused by a big TSP withdrawal or a Roth conversion?

Not through Form SSA-44. A spike alone is not a life-changing event: SSA's list is exclusive, and its manual names IRA conversions as one-time income that does not qualify. You may still request reconsideration of the IRMAA determination, and SSA's manual says it will process that appeal if you insist. On SSA-44, what you report is the retirement that lowered your income, not the spike.

How long do I have to file Form SSA-44?

Under 20 C.F.R. § 418.1310(a)(4), any time during the calendar year in which you experience the significant reduction in income caused by the event. If the event happens in October, November, or December and significantly reduces your income for that same year, the window runs from the event date to March 31 of the next year. Later requests get a good-cause review.

How long do I have to appeal the IRMAA letter itself?

Sixty days from the date you receive the notice. SSA presumes you received it 5 days after the date printed on it, so the practical clock is about 65 days from the letter date, and SSA grants extensions for good cause. For IRMAA, SSA accepts oral requests as well as written ones.

Should I file SSA-44 or request reconsideration?

SSA's manual says a new initial determination through SSA-44 usually produces the same result as an appeal, and you may file both at the same time. SSA cannot discourage you from appealing.

What proof does SSA want?

Proof you stopped working, such as a statement from your agency, a retirement letter, or your own signed statement under penalty of perjury, plus your filed return for the lower year or, if you have not filed yet, an estimate of that year's income signed under penalty of perjury.

My spouse and I both pay IRMAA. Does one form cover us both?

No. SSA's manual says a life-changing-event report applies only to the reporting spouse, and the other spouse is responsible for contacting SSA separately.

When does the lower premium start?

Generally January 1 of the year you file, or your Part B start month if later. If the significant reduction will not occur until the next year, the change takes effect January 1 of that year. A fourth-quarter event that significantly reduces that same year's income, reported by March 31, can reach back to January 1 of the prior year. SSA keeps using the lower year until IRS reports your income for that year or a later one, the data becomes more than 3 years old, you report another event, or you report a change.

What if my income estimate turns out wrong?

Tell SSA. Under 20 C.F.R. § 418.1240, SSA accepts new income information until the end of the calendar year after the tax year it used.

What if the tax return SSA used was itself wrong?

File an amended return. Under 20 C.F.R. § 418.1150, you can give SSA your amended return, once the IRS has accepted it, with the IRS acknowledgment letter or transcript, within 3 calendar years after the close of that tax year.

How much can a successful SSA-44 save?

For a married couple both enrolled in Part B and Part D whose joint income drops from $300,000 to $150,000, $5,769.60 a year under the 2026 tables ($4,869.60 for Part B alone). If only one spouse files, half of that stays on the bill.

What are the 2027 IRMAA brackets?

Not published as of October 8, 2026. CMS usually announces the next year's premium and brackets in November.

Why Retired Feds Get Hit Two Years Late

IRMAA runs on a lag. Under 20 C.F.R. § 418.1135, SSA uses the modified adjusted gross income the IRS reports for the tax year two years before the premium year. Your 2026 premium rests on your 2024 return, or on 2023 if the IRS had not supplied 2024 data. Your 2027 premium will rest on 2025.

For a federal employee who retired at the end of 2025, both of those are full-salary years. The retirement year itself often stays high too: part-year salary, the annual-leave lump sum (taxable as wages on your W-2 under IRS Publication 525), and any TSP withdrawals all land in adjusted gross income. The request has to rest on the first year whose income is actually lower, which is usually the first full year of retirement.

"Modified" AGI for this purpose is your adjusted gross income plus tax-exempt interest, excluded U.S. savings bond interest used for higher-education costs, excluded foreign earned income, and excluded income from Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Puerto Rico. Taxable TSP withdrawals and the taxable part of your FERS annuity count because they are already in AGI.

What Qualifies, and What Does Not

SSA recognizes a short, exclusive list of major life-changing events: your spouse's death, marriage, divorce or annulment, you or your spouse stopping work or reducing hours, loss of income-producing property, the scheduled cessation, termination, or reorganization of an employer's pension plan, and an employer settlement payment tied to a closure, bankruptcy, or reorganization. SSA's manual splits work stoppage and work reduction into two items, for eight in all.

Three traps for federal retirees:

  • Starting your FERS annuity is not a "pension" event. That event is for a pension plan that stops or is cut. Your event is the work stoppage.
  • A one-time income spike is not an SSA-44 event. You may still request reconsideration of the IRMAA determination, but the spike alone does not qualify as a life-changing event. SSA's manual lists capital gains, cashing bonds, and "conversion of an IRA" as income that does not qualify. A traditional-to-Roth TSP conversion is not separately named, but the list is exclusive, so a conversion year is simply a high year. Plan the conversion for a year you can afford the surcharge, and see our TSP Roth conversion and IRMAA timing guide.
  • The drop has to be "significant." Under § 418.1215 that means it moves you to a lower IRMAA tier or below the threshold entirely. A drop that keeps you in the same bracket changes nothing.

All four conditions in § 418.1201 travel together: a listed event, a significant reduction for the year you ask SSA to use, a request, and evidence.

The Two Clocks: SSA-44 vs. Reconsideration

Clock 1, the SSA-44 window. The regulation says you may request a new initial determination "at any time during the calendar year in which you experience a significant reduction" in income caused by the event. An event in the last three months of a year that significantly reduces that same year's income can be reported from the event date until March 31 of the next year. Miss that and SSA reviews whether you had good cause for the late request under its standard rules.

Advice that you can file SSA-44 "any time" is wrong. Retire in June 2026, and your request for 2026 relief belongs in calendar 2026. Retire in November 2026, and you have until March 31, 2027, but only if your 2026 income itself drops a tier because of the retirement. If the first lower year is 2027, the request belongs in calendar 2027.

Clock 2, reconsideration of the IRMAA notice. SSA's IRMAA letter is an initial determination, and the regular appeal rules apply through § 418.1340. Under 20 C.F.R. § 404.909, you have 60 days after you receive the notice, and § 404.901 presumes receipt 5 days after the date on it. SSA grants extensions for good cause. For IRMAA, SSA accepts oral requests, so a phone call starts the appeal.

You do not have to choose. SSA's manual (POMS HI 01140.005) says a new initial determination "can provide the beneficiary with the same results as an appeal" in most situations, that you may file both at once, and that SSA cannot discourage an appeal. If an SSA representative steers you to the SSA-44 route and that request is later denied, the manual treats that as good cause for a late appeal.

What to Send With the Form

For the work stoppage, § 418.1255(d) asks for evidence of the change in work activity: a signed statement from your employer, proof of a business transfer, or your own signed statement under penalty of perjury describing the separation. For a federal retiree, an agency statement such as your retirement paperwork or final SF-50 fits the first category, and SSA's manual also lists a retirement letter.

For the income, § 418.1265 asks for your filed federal return for the year you want SSA to use. If you have not filed it yet, you can give "equivalent evidence," an explanation of what changed in your income, plus a signed statement under penalty of perjury that it is accurate. SSA verifies against IRS data later, so keep the estimate honest and update it if a larger TSP withdrawal changes the picture.

SSA's lower-IRMAA page offers four ways to submit: sign in to your Social Security account to fill out and submit the SSA-44, fax or mail it with your evidence to a Social Security office, make an appointment, or call 1-800-772-1213 if the issue is an amended return. Use the current form from ssa.gov.

Both spouses file. SSA's manual is explicit: "All LCE reports only apply to the reporting spouse." If you and your spouse are both on Part B and both paying IRMAA, you each submit a form, even though the retirement was one event.

How Long the Lower Premium Lasts

If SSA approves, the new determination is generally effective January 1 of the year you filed, or your later Part B start month. If the reduction will not show up until the following year, it starts the following January 1. Under § 418.1235, SSA keeps using the lower year's income each year until the IRS reports income for that year or a later one, the figure becomes more than 3 years old, you report another event, or you report a change.

That carry-forward matters for a late-2025 retiree. Both the 2026 and 2027 premiums would normally be set on working-year returns. One SSA-44 filed in 2026 with a 2026 income estimate can cover 2026 and, under SSA's rules, keep applying until the IRS reports your 2026 income. Watch the 2027 notice when it arrives. If it reverts to a 2025-based figure, file again.

The Dollars at Stake in 2026

The 2026 standard Part B premium is $202.90 a month. Above $218,000 in joint income ($109,000 single), IRMAA adds a per-person surcharge to Part B and, if you are in a Medicare Part D plan, to Part D. FedTools computed the annual cost for a couple from CMS's 2026 tables, per person per month times two people times twelve months, excluding the standard premium and plan premiums both spouses pay either way.

Joint MAGI (2026 table) Part B IRMAA per person per month Part D IRMAA per person per month Couple per year, Part B only Couple per year, Part B and D
$218,000 or less $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
$218,001 to $274,000 $81.20 $14.50 $1,948.80 $2,296.80
$274,001 to $342,000 $202.90 $37.50 $4,869.60 $5,769.60
$342,001 to $410,000 $324.60 $60.40 $7,790.40 $9,240.00
$410,001 to $749,999 $446.30 $83.30 $10,711.20 $12,710.40
$750,000 or more $487.00 $91.00 $11,688.00 $13,872.00

Source: CMS 2026 Medicare Parts A and B premiums fact sheet (November 14, 2025), tables 1 and 3. Annual couple figures are FedTools arithmetic, rounded once at the end.

The couple whose joint income fell from $300,000 to $150,000 crosses two tiers. Step one, from the $274,001 to $342,000 tier down to the next, saves $3,472.80 a year with Part D included. Step two, down to the no-surcharge tier, saves another $2,296.80. Total: $5,769.60, or $4,869.60 on Part B alone. If only one spouse files, $2,884.80 stays on the bill.

One dollar over $218,000 costs a couple who are both on Part B and Part D $2,296.80 a year in 2026, or $1,948.80 on Part B alone. The year you take a large withdrawal matters as much as the amount.

If the Return SSA Used Was Wrong

Sometimes the problem is not a life change but a bad number. If you amended the return SSA used and the IRS accepted it, § 418.1150 lets you give SSA your retained copy of the amended return plus the IRS letter confirming it was filed, or an IRS transcript, within 3 calendar years after the close of that tax year. SSA then issues a new determination on the corrected figure. Where the IRS itself corrected the data it sent SSA, you can ask for a new determination at any time after the notice.

Check Your Retirement Income Against the Brackets

Estimate your full IRMAA MAGI (adjusted gross income, including pension, TSP withdrawals, any Roth conversion, capital gains, and other taxable income, plus tax-exempt interest), then use the CMS 2026 thresholds for your filing status to see which tier you land in and how far you are from the next threshold; the table above applies to married filing jointly. If a TSP withdrawal is what pushes you over, the TSP Withdrawal Tax Calculator takes the withdrawal amount and shows the federal tax on it so you can size the draw for the year SSA will use.

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