Wealthy PotIRMAA Brackets 2026: Medicare Part B and Part D Surcharge Tables
In 2026, Medicare's income-related monthly adjustment amount (IRMAA) applies when your 2024 modified adjusted gross income was above $109,000 on an individual return or above $218,000 on a joint return. It lifts the Part B premium from the standard $202.90 to between $284.10 and $689.90 a month, and adds $14.50 to $91.00 a month to your Part D drug plan premium. Below are the full 2026 tables from CMS and Social Security, how the two-year lookback works, and how to get the surcharge lowered if your income has dropped.
Table of Contents
The Short Answer
- Who pays: people whose 2024 MAGI was over $109,000 (single, head of household, qualifying surviving spouse) or over $218,000 (married filing jointly). CMS says roughly 8% of people with Part B pay it.
- What it costs: the 2026 Part B premium runs $284.10, $405.80, $527.50, $649.20 or $689.90 a month depending on your tier, versus the standard $202.90.
- Part D too: a separate surcharge of $14.50 to $91.00 a month is added to whatever your drug plan charges, including drug coverage in a Medicare Advantage plan or an employer plan.
- Per person: the amounts are per beneficiary. A married couple both on Medicare each pays them.
- Can be reversed: if your income fell because of retirement, a spouse's death, divorce or another qualifying event, Form SSA-44 asks Social Security to use a more recent year.
Check Your Bracket
Pick your tax filing status and enter your 2024 MAGI (adjusted gross income plus tax-exempt interest) to see your 2026 Part B premium and Part D surcharge.
2026 IRMAA Brackets: Individual and Joint Filers
"Individual return" covers single filers, heads of household, qualifying surviving spouses, and married people filing separately who lived apart from their spouse for the entire year. Amounts are monthly, per person, for 2026, based on 2024 MAGI.
| MAGI, individual return | MAGI, joint return | Part B premium | Part D surcharge |
|---|---|---|---|
| $109,000 or less | $218,000 or less | $202.90 | $0 |
| Over $109,000 up to $137,000 | Over $218,000 up to $274,000 | $284.10 | $14.50 |
| Over $137,000 up to $171,000 | Over $274,000 up to $342,000 | $405.80 | $37.50 |
| Over $171,000 up to $205,000 | Over $342,000 up to $410,000 | $527.50 | $60.40 |
| Over $205,000 and under $500,000 | Over $410,000 and under $750,000 | $649.20 | $83.30 |
| $500,000 or more | $750,000 or more | $689.90 | $91.00 |
Source: CMS 2026 Medicare Parts A & B premiums fact sheet (Nov 14, 2025); identical in the Federal Register notice (90 FR 52063) and SSA POMS HI 01101.020. Part D surcharge is paid on top of your plan's own premium.
The Part B figures are total premiums. The surcharge part alone is $81.20, $202.90, $324.60, $446.30 or $487.00 a month. By law the standard premium covers about 25% of Part B's cost for an aged enrollee, and the IRMAA tiers raise your share to 35%, 50%, 65%, 80% and 85%.
At the top tier, one person pays $578 a month more than the standard premium plus Part D plan cost, or $6,936 a year. For a couple, double it.
Married Filing Separately
Married people who file separately and lived with their spouse at any point during the year get a much harsher table, with only two surcharge tiers:
| MAGI, married filing separately | Part B premium | Part D surcharge |
|---|---|---|
| $109,000 or less | $202.90 | $0 |
| Over $109,000 and under $391,000 | $649.20 | $83.30 |
| $391,000 or more | $689.90 | $91.00 |
Source: CMS 2026 fact sheet; SSA POMS HI 01101.020.
Social Security's operating manual tells staff to assume a separately filing couple lived together at some point unless one of them says otherwise. If you lived apart for the whole tax year, tell SSA; you are then rated on the individual-return table above.
The Two-Year Lookback: 2024 Income Sets 2026 Premiums
Social Security sets IRMAA using the most recent tax data the IRS can send it. That is generally the return from two years before the premium year, and never more than three. So your 2026 premium is based on your 2024 return, or your 2023 return if 2024's wasn't available yet.
Two things follow. First, a high-income final working year, a large property sale or a big Roth conversion shows up in your Medicare bill two years later. Second, the year you turn 65 is not a fresh start: someone enrolling in 2026 is rated on 2024, when they may still have been drawing a full salary. That is the most common reason people file Form SSA-44, covered below.
What Counts as MAGI for IRMAA
IRMAA uses its own, simple version of MAGI. Per Social Security's POMS HI 01101.010, it is:
- Adjusted gross income, line 11 of Form 1040, plus
- Tax-exempt interest, line 2a of Form 1040.
So municipal bond interest, which is free of federal income tax, still counts toward IRMAA. Anything that raises AGI pushes MAGI up with it: wages, pensions, taxable IRA and 401(k) or TSP withdrawals (including required minimum distributions), Roth conversions, capital gains, dividends, and the taxable part of Social Security benefits. Qualified Roth IRA withdrawals don't count, because they aren't in AGI. Because of the two-year lookback, for someone who starts Medicare at 65, income up to about age 62 never reaches an IRMAA calculation, while income from age 63 on sets the premium two years later. That is why many people do Roth conversions early in retirement. See our traditional vs Roth IRA guide and the 2026 tax brackets for the income-tax side of the same decision.
The IRMAA Cliff: One Dollar Over Costs a Full Tier
IRMAA is not phased in. Cross a threshold by one dollar and you pay the whole next tier for the year. A single filer with 2024 MAGI of exactly $137,000 pays $284.10 for Part B in 2026. At $137,001 the premium becomes $405.80, and the Part D surcharge rises from $14.50 to $37.50. That one dollar of income costs $144.70 a month, or $1,736.40 a year.
Because the thresholds sit at round numbers, it is worth checking where your income will land before you take a discretionary withdrawal, sell appreciated stock or convert to Roth late in the year. The thresholds themselves move with inflation each year (from $106,000 in 2025 to $109,000 in 2026 for individual filers), but the $500,000 and $750,000 top-tier thresholds stay fixed until inflation indexing starts for them in 2028, per the Federal Register notice.
Worked Example: A Couple Just Over the Line
A retired federal couple, both 67 and both on Medicare, filed jointly for 2024. Their two pensions, Social Security and required withdrawals put AGI at $210,000, and they also took a $20,000 Roth conversion. MAGI: $230,000.
- $230,000 falls in the first joint tier (over $218,000, up to $274,000).
- Each spouse pays a 2026 Part B premium of $284.10 instead of $202.90, an extra $81.20.
- Each also pays a $14.50 Part D surcharge on top of their drug plan premium.
- Extra cost: $95.70 per person a month, $191.40 for the couple, or $2,296.80 for 2026.
Had they converted $8,000 instead of $20,000, MAGI would have been $218,000, exactly at the threshold, and they would have paid no IRMAA at all. The remaining $12,000 could have gone into a later year's conversion. None of this triggers an SSA-44, because choosing to convert less in a later year isn't a qualifying life event.
A second hypothetical: a single federal employee retires in mid-2025. Her 2024 salary put MAGI at $180,000, so in 2026 she is billed $527.50 for Part B and a $60.40 Part D surcharge. Her 2026 income will be about $70,000. Work stoppage is a qualifying life-changing event, so she files Form SSA-44 with her 2026 estimate. If approved, she drops to the standard $202.90 with no Part D surcharge, saving $385 a month, $4,620 a year.
How to Appeal: Form SSA-44 and Life-Changing Events
There are two separate routes, and they solve different problems.
1. Ask for a new determination (Form SSA-44). If your income has dropped because of a qualifying event, you ask Social Security to use a more recent year's income instead of the two-year-old return. Federal regulation 20 CFR 418.1205 lists the qualifying "life-changing events":
- Death of your spouse
- Marriage
- Divorce or annulment
- You or your spouse stop working
- You or your spouse reduce work hours
- Loss of income-producing property that wasn't your choice and wasn't ordinary investment risk (for example disaster, arson, or fraud or theft by a third party)
- Scheduled end, termination or reorganization of an employer pension plan
- A settlement payment from a current or former employer because of its closure, bankruptcy or reorganization
The event must reduce your MAGI enough to lower or eliminate the surcharge. Events that raise expenses but not income, and dividends lost to ordinary market risk, do not qualify (20 CFR 418.1210). The SSA-44 form ("Medicare Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount, Life-Changing Event") is optional: you can also report the event by phone or at a field office. If you haven't filed a tax return for the year you want used, you give an estimate and sign under penalty of perjury. The event can have happened at any time in the past, and a request applies only to the person who files it, so a spouse must file their own.
Other grounds for a new determination: you filed an amended return, the IRS data was wrong, SSA used a three-year-old return when a two-year-old one now exists, or you filed separately but lived apart from your spouse.
2. Appeal the decision itself. If you think SSA applied the rules wrongly, request reconsideration within 60 days of receiving the IRMAA notice (SSA treats it as received 5 days after the date on the notice). Later levels are a hearing before an administrative law judge, review by the Medicare Appeals Council, and federal court.
2026 vs 2025 IRMAA Brackets
| Tier | 2025 individual MAGI | 2025 Part B | 2026 individual MAGI | 2026 Part B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | $106,000 or less | $185.00 | $109,000 or less | $202.90 |
| 1 | to $133,000 | $259.00 | to $137,000 | $284.10 |
| 2 | to $167,000 | $370.00 | to $171,000 | $405.80 |
| 3 | to $200,000 | $480.90 | to $205,000 | $527.50 |
| 4 | under $500,000 | $591.90 | under $500,000 | $649.20 |
| 5 | $500,000+ | $628.90 | $500,000+ | $689.90 |
Source: SSA POMS HI 01101.020 (2025 and 2026 tables). Joint thresholds are double the individual ones below the top tier: $212,000 in 2025 and $218,000 in 2026 for the first threshold.
The thresholds rose about 3%, while the premiums rose about 9.7% because the standard premium went from $185.00 to $202.90. In 2026, about 6.1 million beneficiaries pay a Part B income-related premium, according to the 2026 Medicare Trustees Report.
When the 2027 IRMAA Brackets Arrive
As of October 4, 2026, CMS has not published the 2027 Part B premium or IRMAA brackets. The Medicare & You 2027 handbook says the 2027 premium amounts and income limits "weren't available at the time of printing," and no 2027 Part B premium notice has appeared in the Federal Register.
CMS usually announces the figures in the fall: the 2026 numbers came out on November 14, 2025, and the Federal Register notices for the three years before that were published between late September and mid-November. The 2027 brackets will be based on 2025 MAGI, so your 2025 return is already locked in.
For planning, the 2026 Medicare Trustees Report projects a 2027 standard Part B premium of $209.50 under its intermediate assumptions. That is a projection, not the official figure, and the report itself warns actual amounts "are likely to be somewhat different." We'll update this page when CMS publishes. For the standard premium, the deductible and how the Social Security COLA interacts with them, see our Medicare Part B premium 2026 guide.
Sources & Methodology
- CMS, 2026 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles (Nov 14, 2025), for the Part B and Part D IRMAA tables and the 8% figure.
- Federal Register, 90 FR 52063, Part B premium rates for 2026, for the thresholds, the 35-85% cost shares and the 2028 indexing of the top tier.
- SSA POMS HI 01101.020, IRMAA Sliding Scale Tables, for the 2026 and 2025 tables.
- SSA POMS HI 01101.010, Modified Adjusted Gross Income, for the MAGI definition and lookback.
- SSA POMS HI 01120.005, Life Changing Events and HI 01140.001, IRMAA appeals.
- 20 CFR 418.1205, the regulation listing life-changing events.
- Form SSA-44.
- Medicare.gov, How income affects your Medicare drug coverage premiums and Medicare & You 2027.
- 2026 Medicare Trustees Report, Tables V.E2 and V.E3, for the 6.1 million count and the 2027 projection.
Method notes. The 2026 tables were checked in three independent primary sources (the CMS fact sheet, the Federal Register notice and SSA's POMS), which agree to the cent. Annual and per-couple figures are our arithmetic from the monthly amounts. The examples are hypothetical. The 2027 premium is a Trustees Report projection, not an official figure.
This article is for general information and is not financial or tax advice. Figures are from CMS, the Social Security Administration and the Federal Register, checked against the primary sources on 2026-10-04. Your own IRMAA is set by Social Security from IRS data; check your SSA notice, and talk to a tax professional before timing income around the thresholds.
FAQ
What are the IRMAA brackets for 2026?
For individual filers, surcharges start at 2024 MAGI over $109,000, with tiers at $137,000, $171,000, $205,000 and $500,000. For joint filers the thresholds are $218,000, $274,000, $342,000, $410,000 and $750,000. The matching 2026 Part B premiums are $284.10, $405.80, $527.50, $649.20 and $689.90 a month.
What year's income is used for 2026 IRMAA?
Your 2024 tax return, or 2023 if the IRS didn't have 2024 data for you. Social Security uses the most recent return the IRS provides, generally two years before the premium year.
Is IRMAA based on AGI or taxable income?
Neither exactly. IRMAA uses adjusted gross income (Form 1040 line 11) plus tax-exempt interest (line 2a). Deductions taken after AGI, like the standard deduction, don't reduce it.
Do both spouses pay IRMAA?
Yes, if both are on Medicare. A joint filer's MAGI places both spouses in the same tier, and each pays the surcharge on their own premium.
Does IRMAA apply to Medicare Advantage?
Yes. Medicare Advantage members still pay the Part B premium, including any IRMAA, and Medicare says the Part D surcharge applies to drug coverage in a Medicare Advantage plan and to Medicare drug coverage you get through an employer, paid separately to Medicare or deducted from Social Security.
How do I get IRMAA reduced after retiring?
Retiring (work stoppage) or cutting hours is a qualifying life-changing event. File Form SSA-44 with Social Security, or call or visit, and give an estimate of your current-year income. If it lands in a lower tier, SSA redetermines your premium.
How long do I have to appeal an IRMAA decision?
60 days from receiving the notice, which SSA treats as 5 days after the date printed on it. A request based on a life-changing event has no such deadline: the event can have happened at any time in the past.
Are the 2027 IRMAA brackets out?
Not as of October 4, 2026. CMS typically releases them in the fall. The 2026 Trustees Report projects a 2027 standard Part B premium of $209.50, but that is a projection.
Does a Roth conversion count toward IRMAA?
Yes. A conversion is added to AGI in the year you do it, so it raises MAGI and can push your premiums up two years later. Qualified Roth withdrawals afterwards do not count.
Cite This Page
Journalists, educators and bloggers are welcome to cite this guide. Please link back so readers can reach the primary sources.
"IRMAA Brackets 2026: Medicare Part B and Part D Surcharge Tables." Wealthy Pot, 2026. https://wealthypot.com/irmaa-brackets-2026/
