Two years ago is not now. Medicare will listen, sometimes.

The facts, in one place.

Six quotable sentences on appealing the Medicare surcharge, 2026 figures.

1. Medicare premiums for 2026 are set from the 2024 tax return; the first surcharge begins above $109,000 single and $218,000 joint, and the top tier adds $578.00 a month per person.
2. If income has fallen since that year because of a major life-changing event, Social Security will set the surcharge from a more recent year instead (20 CFR 418.1201). The events are seven: a spouse's death, marriage, divorce or annulment, stopping or reducing work, loss of income-producing property, loss of pension income, and an employer settlement (418.1205).
3. Retirement is the common one: stopping work counts, and the request can be made as soon as the retirement is certain, using the expected income for the year.
4. What does not count: selling property or a business by choice, ordinary investment losses, and a one-time spike such as a Roth conversion, a large IRA withdrawal, or a capital gain in the lookback year (418.1210). Those are paid for one year and roll off.
5. Example: someone who retired after a $250,000 year and expects $90,000: tier 4 on the old return, tier 0 on the new income, $6,355 a year saved by filing the form.
6. The request is Form SSA-44, with evidence of the event and of the new income; it is made once, and Social Security uses the new year for the premium year in question. Each spouse on Medicare files their own.

What counts, and what does not.

The seven qualifying events with their regulation, and the common non-events.

How the appeal works.

The Medicare surcharge for a year is set from the tax return filed two years earlier, because that is the most recent one the Social Security Administration has. The regulations recognize that a life can change in two years, and they list the changes that count: a spouse's death, marriage, divorce or annulment, stopping or reducing work, losing income-producing property to something other than a sale, losing pension income, and an employer settlement after a closure or bankruptcy. After any of these, a beneficiary whose income has fallen can ask for the surcharge to be set from a more recent year, and the request is decided on evidence of the event and of the new income.

The list is closed. A good year that was simply a good year does not qualify: a Roth conversion, a large IRA withdrawal, a property or business sold by choice, a capital gain. Those raise the premium for one year and roll off when the next return is used. The checker asks which event applies, reads the tier for each year's income from the CMS tables, and reports the yearly difference for each person on Medicare.

Methodology.

1. Inputs. The event, if any; modified adjusted gross income on the lookback-year return and expected for the premium year; filing status; and how many in the household are on Medicare.
2. Eligibility. An appeal is available when the event is one of the seven in 20 CFR 418.1205 and the premium-year income lands in a lower tier than the lookback year's (418.1201).
3. The tiers. Each income read against the year's tables from the IRMAA engine already on this site, by filing status, including the married-filing-separately rule.
4. The saving. The difference in the yearly surcharge (Part B and Part D adjustments) between the two tiers, per person, times the number on Medicare.
5. Validation. A retirement that drops three tiers; no event; the same tier both years; and a couple where the saving must be twice the per-person figure. A transcription error fails the build.
6. Not modeled. Evidence and timing of the request, the choice between the current and the following year as the more recent year, amended or corrected returns (418.1310), hold-harmless interactions, and the exact premium-year table where it has not yet been published. Educational, not advice.

Sources.

1. 1. Code of Federal Regulations (Cornell LII), 20 CFR § 418.1205 — What is a major life-changing event?. The seven events: death of a spouse (a), marriage (b), divorce or annulment (c), work stoppage or reduction (d), loss of income-producing property not by choice (e), loss of pension income (f), and an employer settlement (g). Retrieved September 6, 2026; verified September 6, 2026.
2. 2. Code of Federal Regulations (Cornell LII), 20 CFR § 418.1201 and § 418.1210 — When a more recent tax year's income is used; what is not a major life-changing event. That a beneficiary who has had a major life-changing event that reduced income may ask for the surcharge to be set from a more recent year, and that voluntary sales, ordinary investment losses, and one-time income do not qualify. Retrieved September 6, 2026; verified September 6, 2026.
3. 3. Social Security Administration, Form SSA-44, Medicare Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount — Life-Changing Event. The form itself: the event and its date, the more recent year's modified adjusted gross income and filing status, and the evidence to attach. Retrieved September 6, 2026; verified September 6, 2026.
4. 4. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2026 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles (fact sheet, November 14, 2025). The Part B standard premium and deductible, the Part A inpatient deductible, and every row of the Part B and Part D income-related adjustment tables. Retrieved September 4, 2026; verified September 4, 2026.
5. 5. United States Code (Cornell LII), 42 U.S.C. § 1395r(i) — Income-related increase in Part B premium (and, by cross-reference, Part D). That the income used is modified adjusted gross income from the return two years before the premium year, and the mechanism of the tiers. Retrieved September 4, 2026; verified September 4, 2026.

Revision history.

The record's history; the tiers come from the annual record.

September 6, 2026

First release: the qualifying events, the disqualifying ones, and the yearly saving from the lookback-year tier to the current-year tier.

Canonical address: https://consideratecapital.com/tools/irmaa-appeal-checker