IRMAA 2027: Your 2025 Tax Return Already Decided It

Your Medicare premium for 2027 is already set, by your 2025 tax return. If your income that year was over the line, you pay a surcharge called IRMAA on Part B and Part D, and one dollar over the line means the surcharge for the whole year. Here's which year counts, where the 2027 lines fall, the eight life-changing events that let you ask for a new decision, and what you can still change before December 31. 0:00 Intro 1:16 Two years back 2:41 One dollar 4:35 The 2027 lines 6:44 Eight events 8:35 What 2026 can still change The numbers in this video: Standard Part B premium in 2026: $202.90 a month. IRMAA starts above $109,000 of income (single) or $218,000 (married filing jointly) and goes up to 3.4 times the standard premium. About 6.1 million people pay it on Part B in 2026 (Medicare Trustees). Income for IRMAA = adjusted gross income (Form 1040, line 11a) + tax-exempt interest (line 2a). The new $6,000 senior deduction does not lower it. Look-back: 2027 premiums use your 2025 return. If the IRS doesn't have it by October 15, 2026, Social Security uses your 2024 return and corrects later. 2026 rates: Part B $284.10 a month on the first step, $405.80 on the second, $689.90 at the top. Part D surcharge $14.50 to $91.00 a month, also inside Medicare Advantage. One dollar over the first line, 2026 rates: $95.70 a month, $1,148.40 a year per person (our arithmetic). At the top step: $6,936 a year per person. The hold-harmless rule does not protect people who pay IRMAA. 2027 lines (our arithmetic from the inflation formula, CPI-U through August 2026): first line about $112,000 single / $224,000 joint. Top line $500,000 / $750,000, frozen by law until 2028. The middle lines depend on how the missing October 2025 price index is handled (second line $141,000 or $142,000). The official table comes this fall. 2027 projections: standard Part B $209.50 a month (Medicare Trustees, projected). Part D surcharge $15.40 to $96.40 a month (from CMS's base premium of $41.33). First step: about $99 a month, about $1,189 a year (our arithmetic). The eight life-changing events: death of a spouse; marriage; divorce or annulment; you or your spouse stopped or reduced work; loss of income-producing property you didn't choose; end or cut of an employer pension; a settlement from an employer that closed or went bankrupt. Not on the list: selling a home, a Roth conversion, lottery or casino winnings, cashing in bonds, medical bills. To ask: call Social Security, visit an office, or use form SSA-44 (optional). The new decision applies from January 1 of the year you ask. Appeals: 60 days after the letter. Example, 2026 rates: single, a $400,000 home-sale gain ($150,000 taxable after the $250,000 exclusion) plus $60,000 of other income = $210,000, the fourth step: $529.60 a month in surcharges, about $6,355 a year (illustrative). Sources Social Security Act §1839(i), 42 U.S.C. §1395r(i); §1860D-13(a)(7), 42 U.S.C. §1395w-113(a)(7) 20 CFR Part 418, Subparts B and C; SSA Program Operations Manual System HI 01101.010, HI 01120.001, HI 01120.005, HI 01140.001 CMS, 2026 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles (Nov. 14, 2025); CMS, Part D 2027 bid information (July 28, 2026); Federal Register 2025-20251 2026 Annual Report of the Boards of Trustees of the Medicare Trust Funds, tables V.E2–V.E4 IRS Form 1040 (2025), lines 2a and 11a; IRS Notice 2025-67 Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI-U (September 2025 – August 2026; October 2025 not collected) General information from public sources, not personal tax, legal or Medicare advice. This channel is not affiliated with the IRS, the Social Security Administration, CMS or any government agency. The research, script and graphics are made for this channel.