Retirement tax questions · 2026 figures

Will Medicare surcharges (IRMAA) hit us?

With higher income, Medicare adds a surcharge, called IRMAA, to your Part B and Part D premiums. It's set by your income from two years earlier and goes up in steps, so a Roth conversion, a home sale or a large withdrawal can raise premiums two years later. Here are the 2026 brackets and how to see the surcharge coming.

In short

In 2026, the surcharge starts at income above $109,000 for a single person and $218,000 for a married couple filing jointly.
2026 premiums are based on 2024 income: what you do this year sets your premiums two years from now.
The tiers are cliffs. One dollar over a line costs the whole step for the year, for each person on Medicare.
If income dropped after retiring, the death of a spouse or another life-changing event, you can ask Social Security to use the more recent year.

The 2026 IRMAA brackets

Each person on Medicare pays the standard Part B premium of $202.90 a month in 2026, plus the amounts below if income was above the first line. The income is modified adjusted gross income (adjusted gross income plus tax-free bond interest) from your 2024 tax return.

Single: income 2024	Married filing jointly: income 2024	Part B, per month	Part D add-on, per month
$109,000 or less	$218,000 or less	$202.90	none
Over $109,000 to $137,000	Over $218,000 to $274,000	$284.10	+$14.50
Over $137,000 to $171,000	Over $274,000 to $342,000	$405.80	+$37.50
Over $171,000 to $205,000	Over $342,000 to $410,000	$527.50	+$60.40
Over $205,000, under $500,000	Over $410,000, under $750,000	$649.20	+$83.30
$500,000 or more	$750,000 or more	$689.90	+$91.00

The Part D add-on is paid on top of your drug plan's own premium, whichever plan you have. Married people who file separately and lived with their spouse during the year have their own, steeper tiers.

Why it's hard to see coming

The two-year lag. The bill arrives long after the income. A conversion in December shows up in premiums two Januarys later, when it's too late to change.
Cliffs, not slopes. Tax brackets charge more only on the income above the line. These tiers charge the whole step as soon as you cross it.
Income you don't think of as income. Tax-free municipal bond interest counts. So do Roth conversions, capital gains from rebalancing or selling a home, and the taxable part of Social Security.
The survivor's lines are half as high. After one spouse dies, the single lines apply, often to most of the same income (see the widow's penalty).

What crossing a line costs

Take the first line for a couple, $218,000 of 2024 income. One dollar over it moves each of them from the standard $202.90 Part B premium to $284.10, and adds $14.50 to Part D:

Extra per person, per month	$95.70
Extra per person, per year	$1,148.40
Extra for a couple both on Medicare, per year	$2,296.80

At the top tier the extra is about $6,936 a year per person. Whether a conversion that crosses a line is still worth it depends on what it saves later, which is a comparison across many years.

When income drops: the appeal

If your income fell because of a life-changing event, such as stopping work, the death of a spouse, divorce or the loss of a pension, you can ask Social Security to use the more recent, lower year with Form SSA-44. Many people in their first years of retirement are charged on their last working years' pay and don't know they can ask.

Medicare usually announces the next year's premiums and tiers in the fall. This page shows the 2026 figures and is updated when the next year's are published.

What Taxtirement shows

iPhone This Year screen: room left this year before the next tax bracket, before Medicare premiums go up, and before losing Marketplace help, each with the amount — This year's room before the next bracket, Medicare tier and ACA cliff.

Room until the next Medicare tier this year, for the premiums you'll pay two years from now, on the This Year screen and a home-screen widget.
Surcharges in every year of the plan, including the survivor years, added into lifetime costs.
Roth conversion scenarios that stay under a tier you choose (the standard premium, or the first or second tier), next to scenarios that don't.
What the next thousand dollars costs, with everything it touches: the bracket, Social Security, deductions and Medicare premiums.
An appeal setting that assumes you ask Social Security to use your lower income after retiring or after a spouse's death.

References

The rules and figures on this page come from these official sources; the household in the example is made up. The app's calculations are also checked against them; see How we check our numbers.

Laws

42 U.S.C. § 1395r: Medicare Part B premiums, including the income-related amounts (uscode.house.gov)U.S. Code, Office of the Law Revision Counsel · Current textUsed for: how higher incomes raise the Part B premium
42 U.S.C. § 1395w-113: Medicare Part D premiums, including the income-related amounts (uscode.house.gov)U.S. Code, Office of the Law Revision Counsel · Current textUsed for: the Part D income-related add-on

Regulations and official guidance

20 CFR 418.1135: Which year's income sets the Medicare income-related amount (ecfr.gov)Social Security Administration regulations (eCFR) · Current textUsed for: the two-year lookback (2026 premiums use 2024 income)
20 CFR 418.1205: What is a major life-changing event? (ecfr.gov)Social Security Administration (eCFR) · Current textUsed for: the events that let you ask for a more recent year's income
Premiums: Rules for higher-income beneficiaries (ssa.gov)Social Security Administration · Current pageUsed for: how Social Security sets the surcharge and the income it usesSocial Security's site refuses automated link checks; this address was confirmed in a browser.

Forms, instructions and publications

Form SSA-44: Medicare Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount, Life-Changing Event (ssa.gov)Social Security Administration · Current formUsed for: asking for a lower surcharge after income dropsSocial Security's site refuses automated link checks; this address was confirmed in a browser.

Agency data

2026 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles; 2026 Part D income-related amounts (cms.gov)Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services · November 14, 2025Used for: the 2026 Part B premium and every IRMAA tier for Parts B and D

See it with your own numbers. Taxtirement works out every year of retirement for your household, federal and state, and puts the scenarios side by side so you can compare them. Coming November 2026 for iPhone, iPad and Mac.