Does IRMAA go away automatically if my income drops, or do I need to report it to Social Security?

Question

Matthew Libby · Accepted Answer

Completing your income tax return should change your recorded income for calculating IRMAA. Even with that being said, it makes sense to go ahead and attach your income tax form with an appeal to insure your surcharge is removed.

Answered by Matthew Libby on March 31, 2025

Broker Licensed in TN, AR, KY, OH & OR

Answered by Matthew Libby Medicare Insurance Agent

Nikki Rowland · Answer

Yes, if there has been a significant change in your income, you need to let them know so that your Part B premium can be adjusted.

Robert Pennington · Answer

SSA uses two years of tax returns to determine decrease in income to make a change.

Steven Bleicher · Answer

IRMAA (or Income-Related-Monthly-Adjustment-Amount) which is based upon your 2-year old tax return under the category of "Adjusted Gross Income" or AGI. There is a chart on the Medicare.gov website which you can find by putting those 5 letters into the search box and print out the chart. The least amount for 2025 is $185.00/month (predicated on a joint return of $206K or less). Then, regarding the higher AGI's, it can reach a maximum of $594.00 per month (is an AGI of over a half million $$ or greater when filing as an individual or $750K when filing jointly with your partner).

I would recommend that you "remind" Medicare of your lower income since at times, they will not necessarily "catch up" as quickly as you'd like them to (call 1-800-MEDICARE). Remember that chart contains SIX categories of AGI's so if you have a new lower income, it may not make any difference. You don't need to specifically report that since both the Medicare and the IRS computers usually communicate this info directly within 3 months (hopefully) after filing.

Ami Fouts · Answer

You can always call Medicare and explain your income has dropped and they seem to negotiate with most people

Steve Brauer · Answer

This answer is provided in a video format. Watch the agent's video response here: https://medicareagentshub.com/questions/does-irmaa-go-away-automatically-if-my-income-drops-or-do-i-need-to-report-it-to-social-security#steve-brauer

Sam Silva · Answer

IRMAA does not go away automatically.
If your income drops, you must report it to Social Security to request a reduction.

Robert Simm · Answer

If your income were to decrease then I would highly recommend reaching out to the Social Security Administration and Reporting the current income so this way you could be removed from the so this way you could be removed from the IRMAA penalty.

Answered by Robert Simm on April 7, 2025

Broker Licensed in NC, AL, AR & 15 other states

Answered by Robert Simm Medicare Insurance Agent

Jerry Cohen · Answer

Theoretically Medicare will look up your adjusted gross income as reported to the IRS and reduce or eliminate the IRMAA charge without the beneficiary doing anything. As we are delaing with a government agency I see no reason why a phone call to Medicare at the time of the Adjusted Income figure could not hurt the beneficiary just to make sure they pay the amount they should be paying.

Answered by Jerry Cohen on May 6, 2025

Broker Licensed in NY

Answered by Jerry Cohen Medicare Insurance Agent

Debra Weber · Answer

The IRMA goes off of taxable income from the IRS,  so yes when your income goes down so does the IRMA.

Does IRMAA go away automatically if my income drops, or do I need to report it to Social Security?

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Does IRMAA go away automatically if my income drops, or do I need to report it to Social Security?

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