SSA 44 Medicare Part B

[Gran]

Need advice on filing SSA 44 requesting a reduction in monthly Part B premium being withheld from social security. Client cashed an annuity in 2018 to buy a house. In 2019 her Part B premium increased due to the one time increase in income. This was a one time event.

Her 2019 and 2020 she has no tax liability. I want to request a decrease in Part B because she has very little income.

The form SSA 44 asks for a life changing event, none of which matches this situation.

Would anyone be willing to advise me how to proceed?

[Rapid Robert]

Search this forum for previous posts related to "IRMAA".

From what I've read here and elsewhere, your request will go nowhere. After one year, it will automatically go back down if income drops out of range.

[Rapid Robert]

Her 2019 and 2020 she has no tax liability. I want to request a decrease in Part B because she has very little income.
Would anyone be willing to advise me how to proceed?

Follow up: check your dates. As I recall, the IRMAA increase happens two years after the reported AGI exceeds the threshold, so if she had high income for TY2018, it shouldn't have showed up until 2020 (this can be checked at the Medicare web site - but it makes sense, since the TY2018 return would not normally be filed until well into calendar year 2019, so how could they increase the deduction at the beginning of 2019?).

Also, while you state no tax liability in either 2019 or 2020, was a return filed nonetheless? If not, the service would have no way to know that her income has gone back down.

[sandigi]

If your client had a "Life-changing" event in the list, she can appeal. This "one-time" event you describe doesn't qualify. It's the same thing when a client has large capital gains from stock sales or rental home sale. The IRMAA is a silent lurking menace that hangs around for a year and cost money, quite a bit of money in some cases.

And it is often a surprise, as financial advisors and tax consultants don't think about it when we are in the middle of crunching numbers and planning.

[Burke]

Have a client who sold stock to pay off mortgage on a house in 2020. I want to warn him of Medicare B increase. Will that occur eff. 1/1/22? Or 1/1/23?

[mhcpa1964]

I just wanted to share some news. I recently applied, for the 1st time, a SSA-44 request on behalf of a client and used this thread as research material. This wasn't my only research source but it was helpful because it reminded me to inform the client there are no guarantees on the outcome of the adjustment request.

My client successfully received the Medicare premium reduction as a result of the request!!! The clients and I are very happy with this outcome.

I wasn't 100% sure what box to check for the life changing event so I checked multiple boxes. A cover letter explaining the situation was included in the packet along with a letter from the client's former employer. The situation for them was the husband received a large lump sum payout of his pension upon retirement (not an unusual situation). Those payments won't repeat in the future. In the packet I also included a tax planner worksheet from my tax software. All that evidence seemed to really help.

[Burke]

The lump-sum payout in year of retirement is one of the stated allowed exceptions, and they will reduce the MC Part B premium due to that situation. I know many people who have done this. Mostly all in-person prior to COVID. Nice to know it works via correspondence.

[TAXNJ]

Have a client who sold stock to pay off mortgage on a house in 2020. I want to warn him of Medicare B increase. Will that occur eff. 1/1/22? Or 1/1/23?

Does this help?

https://lawrencefinancialplanning.com/blog/irmaa-faqs

another good source:

https://www.medicareinteractive.org/...higher-incomes

[FEDUKE404]

A "life-changing event" is more involved than a (often one-time) increase in MAGI, which is used for the IRMAA Medicare B/D premiums surcharge calculations.
Death of a spouse, or losing employment income, certainly would fit. Selling some stock, or a home, for a large taxable gain likely would not. There probably is much room in-between.
FWIW, the 2018 income cited would have been reported on the calendar year 2018 tax return filed in 2019. The IRMAA surcharge would thus have started with the Medicare premiums for 2020.
If there was "no tax liability" for 2019 and 2020, then the IRMAA surcharges would automatically have gone away. ***BUT*** remember the IRMAA surcharges are based on MAGI only (deductions, such as large contributions / medical expenses / property tax are totally irrelevant to the IRMAA determination!).