You retired in March. Your income dropped by half. In November a letter arrives from Social Security: your 2026 Medicare premium carries a surcharge, calculated on what you earned in 2024, back when you were still working.
Search for what to do and every result says the same word. Appeal. Social Security says you probably shouldn't file one.
Two different papers, and the word "appeal" points at the wrong one
SSA puts it this way on its 2026 IRMAA page: "You don't need to file an appeal if you're requesting a new decision because you experienced one of the events listed and, it made your income go down."
Two separate paths, and you can't swap one for the other:
- Your income fell after a life-changing event → Form SSA-44. You're asking SSA to use a more recent tax year. That's a new initial determination.
- You think SSA got the decision wrong → Form SSA-561-U2, Request for Reconsideration. That's the appeal.
Nearly everyone searching for how to appeal IRMAA wants the first one. File the second by mistake and you wait longer for the same answer.
Before anything: do you even owe IRMAA?
Form SSA-44 says it outright: "If you do not have to pay an income-related monthly adjustment amount, you should not fill out this form even if you experienced a life-changing event."
The standard 2026 Part B premium is $202.90 a month. IRMAA stacks on top of that, and on top of your Part D premium. Your 2026 amount comes from the return you filed in 2025 for tax year 2024. If SSA couldn't get that one, it used 2023 instead. Your notice names the year it used. Find it now, because Step 2 turns on it.
2026 IRMAA: single, head of household, qualifying widow(er), or married filing separately and lived apart all year
| Your 2024 MAGI | Part B add-on | Part D add-on |
|---|---|---|
| $109,000.00 or less | — | — |
| $109,000.01 – $137,000.00 | +$81.20 | +$14.50 |
| $137,000.01 – $171,000.00 | +$202.90 | +$37.50 |
| $171,000.01 – $205,000.00 | +$324.60 | +$60.40 |
| $205,000.01 – $499,999.99 | +$446.30 | +$83.30 |
| More than $499,999.99 | +$487.00 | +$91.00 |
2026 IRMAA: married filing jointly
| Your 2024 MAGI | Part B add-on | Part D add-on |
|---|---|---|
| $218,000.00 or less | — | — |
| $218,000.01 – $274,000.00 | +$81.20 | +$14.50 |
| $274,000.01 – $342,000.00 | +$202.90 | +$37.50 |
| $342,000.01 – $410,000.00 | +$324.60 | +$60.40 |
| $410,000.01 – $749,999.99 | +$446.30 | +$83.30 |
| More than $749,999.99 | +$487.00 | +$91.00 |
Married filing separately and you lived with your spouse at any point that year is its own short table: $109,000.01 – $390,999.99 adds +$446.30 Part B and +$83.30 Part D; above $390,999.99 adds +$487.00 and +$91.00.
The two SSA sources disagree on that last figure. Its web page shows $487.90 for the top married-filing-separately row. Form SSA-44 (12-2025) shows $487.00, which matches every other top tier, so that's the number we print. Go by the amount on your own notice, and if the two still disagree, call SSA instead of guessing.
You won't find MAGI on your tax return. Add line 11 of Form 1040, your adjusted gross income, to line 2a, your tax-exempt interest. Muni-bond interest you pay no tax on still counts toward it. New to all this? Start with what IRMAA is and why it runs two years behind.
The eight life-changing events, exactly as SSA lists them
Step 1 asks you to check a box. Not "a big drop in income." One of these eight, by name:
| Event | SSA's definition |
|---|---|
| Marriage | You entered into a legal marriage. |
| Divorce / annulment | Your legal marriage ended, and you will not file a joint return with your spouse for the year. |
| Death of your spouse | Your spouse died. |
| Work stoppage | You or your spouse stopped working. |
| Work reduction | You or your spouse reduced the hours that you work. |
| Loss of income-producing property | A loss that was not at your direction: a declared disaster area, livestock or crops lost to natural disaster or disease, arson, or investment property lost to fraud or theft. |
| Loss of pension income | You or your spouse experienced a scheduled cessation, termination, or reorganization of an employer's pension plan. |
| Employer settlement payment | You or your spouse received a settlement from an employer or former employer because of the employer's bankruptcy or reorganization. |
Two details there decide real cases. Retirement has no line of its own, so check work stoppage. And a loss of income-producing property only counts if it wasn't at your direction. A sale or transfer you chose doesn't qualify, and if you lost the property to investment fraud, SSA also wants proof of conviction for the theft.
The date rule that gets forms rejected
Your event date has to fall in the same year as the tax year you're asking SSA to use, or an earlier one. SSA gives this example. Your 2024 income set your 2026 IRMAA, so you ask SSA to use 2025 instead. That works only if your income fell in 2025 because of something that happened in 2025 or before.
Step 2: which tax year to write in the box
People get this step wrong, and the cost is a phone call three months later instead of a decision. Write a year more recent than the one SSA used. Your notice names it. From there:
- Use the premium year itself, 2026 for a 2026 surcharge, if your income didn't drop until 2026, or it dropped in 2025 and will drop further in 2026.
- Use the year before, 2025, if your income dropped in 2025 and won't go lower in 2026.
- One exception. If SSA reached back three years, to 2023 for a 2026 surcharge, you can ask it to use 2024 instead.
Then fill in the adjusted gross income, the tax-exempt interest and the filing status for that year. You can estimate a year you haven't filed yet. SSA says it checks your figure against IRS records later.
Step 3 is optional, and almost nobody uses it
Expect your MAGI to drop again the year after? Step 3 records that now, and SSA applies it next year. Skip Step 3 and SSA carries your Step 2 figure forward instead. Retire mid-year and you have a partial year of wages in 2026 and none in 2027, so filling it in saves you a second form.
Step 4: the evidence SSA actually requires
You prove two things. The income, with a signed copy of your tax return or an IRS transcript. If you estimated, you show the signed return once you file it. And the event, from SSA's list:
| Event | What SSA wants to see |
|---|---|
| Marriage | An original marriage certificate, or a certified copy of a public record of marriage. |
| Divorce / annulment | A certified copy of the decree. |
| Death of your spouse | A certified copy of the death certificate, the public record of death, or a coroner's certificate. |
| Work stoppage or reduction | An original signed statement from your employer, copies of pay stubs, or original or certified documents showing a transfer of your business. If you have none of that, SSA will accept your own signed statement on the form, under penalty of perjury. |
| Loss of income-producing property | An insurance adjuster's statement of loss, or a letter from a state or federal government about the uncompensated loss. For investment fraud, also proof of conviction for the theft. |
| Loss of pension income | A letter or statement from your pension fund administrator explaining the reduction or termination. |
| Employer settlement payment | A letter from the employer stating the settlement terms of the bankruptcy court and how it affects you. |
Read the work-stoppage row twice. No letter from your old employer doesn't leave you stuck: SSA accepts your own signed statement on the form, under penalty of perjury, as proof that you stopped or cut back work.
Event evidence has to be originals or certified copies. Attach them and SSA mails them back, or show them to an SSA employee in person.
Four ways to file it
- Online. Sign in to your my Social Security account, fill out and submit Form SSA-44, and upload the documents electronically.
- Fax or mail. Complete the PDF and send it with your evidence to a Social Security office. Find yours through SSA's office locator.
- In person. Schedule an appointment and bring the form and originals.
- By phone. Call 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778), weekdays 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., and say you want to lower your Medicare IRMAA because of a life-changing event. SSA says you don't have to fill in the form to ask.
SSA budgets about 45 minutes to read the form, gather the facts and fill it in. Sign Step 5 and put a current phone number and address on it, because that's how SSA reaches you when something's missing.
What happens after you file
- SSA verifies whatever you reported against IRS records.
- If you gave an estimate, SSA asks for the signed return when you file it.
- If your estimate changes, or you amend that return, tell SSA. Stay quiet and corrections follow anyway, including retroactive assessments or refunds.
- SSA keeps using your Step 2 estimate until the IRS sends it the real figure, you provide a signed return, or you provide an updated estimate.
When Form SSA-44 will not help you
Read this before you spend the 45 minutes.
Look again at the eight events. Each one happened to your income. A Roth conversion, a home sale, a large IRA withdrawal, a year of unusual capital gains: those are decisions you made, and none of them appears on the list. SSA-44 won't help you there.
Something else will. Because IRMAA looks back two years, a one-year spike drops off by itself once that year rolls out of the window. If 2024 was your spike, your 2027 surcharge runs on 2025 and the extra charge disappears without your doing anything. In the meantime you can size the next conversion or withdrawal to stay under a bracket line, and it's worth the arithmetic: one dollar over moves you a whole tier. Our free 1-page IRMAA cheat sheet puts the 2026 lines on one page.
If the problem is the number itself, not your income
Three different fixes, and only one is SSA-44:
- SSA used the wrong income. Filed a more recent return, or SSA reached for 2023 when 2024 exists? Call SSA or visit an office. No form. They update the record.
- The MAGI figure from the IRS is wrong. You have to correct it with the IRS. SSA cannot change what the IRS reported.
- You amended your return. Call 1-800-772-1213 with the amended return and your IRS acknowledgment receipt.
- You're charged a Part D surcharge but have no Part D coverage. That correction is CMS's, not SSA's: call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227, TTY 1-877-486-2048).
- You filed separately but lived apart from your spouse all year. Call SSA. The form says in so many words not to use it for this.
- You think the decision itself is wrong. Now you want the appeal: file online, or send Form SSA-561-U2, Request for Reconsideration.
Go to the source, and never to whoever found you first
Every form here is free, and you file all of them straight with Social Security. Do it at ssa.gov or medicare.gov. Nobody needs to charge you to fill in an eight-page government form. If a pitch makes you feel rushed, walk away from it.
Free 1-page "IRMAA Cliff" cheat sheet
The 2026 brackets, what counts toward MAGI, the two-year lookback and the SSA-44 route, on one page you can keep next to the notice.
Get the cheat sheet→Sources
• SSA — Form SSA-44 (12-2025), Medicare IRMAA — Life-Changing Event (the eight events, Steps 1–5, the evidence table, the 45-minute estimate)
• SSA — Medicare Premiums: Rules for Higher-Income Beneficiaries (2026 brackets, MAGI definition, "you don't need to file an appeal", SSA-561-U2)
• SSA — Request to lower an Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount (IRMAA) (the four filing routes, phone hours)
Watch this on the channel
Same question, in full.
Common questions
Is Form SSA-44 the same as appealing IRMAA?
No, and SSA says so directly: you do not need to file an appeal if you are requesting a new decision because you had one of the listed life-changing events that lowered your income. Form SSA-44 asks SSA to use a more recent tax year. A true appeal — Form SSA-561-U2, Request for Reconsideration — is for when you believe SSA's decision itself was wrong. Filing the wrong one costs time.
What are the life-changing events for IRMAA?
Form SSA-44 lists eight: marriage; divorce or annulment; death of your spouse; work stoppage; work reduction; loss of income-producing property; loss of pension income; and an employer settlement payment. A voluntary income event such as a Roth conversion, a home sale or an IRA withdrawal is not on the list.
Which tax year do I put in Step 2 of Form SSA-44?
A year more recent than the one SSA used, and your notice tells you which year that was. Use the premium year itself if your income was not reduced until this year, or will be lower this year than last. Use the year before the premium year if your income fell then and will be no lower this year.
Can I use an estimate of my income on Form SSA-44?
Yes. SSA accepts an estimate for a year you have not filed yet, and states it will later check your report against IRS records. If your estimate changes, you must contact SSA, or corrections including retroactive assessments or refunds may follow.