How to complete SSA Form 44 to reduce or eliminate IRMAA
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 ต.ค. 2024
- Did you receive an IRMAA determination letter? Have you recently experienced a life-changing event? You might be eligible to reduce or eliminate your additional Medicare premiums, known as IRMAA.
If you would like to read the article we wrote on this Social Security form, you can check it out at Teach Me! Personal Finance or go to: www.teachmeper...
Thank you for the clarification!
First of all, this is a great TH-cam video and thank you very much.
I am retiring on August 31, 2023 and I am a bit confused about Step 2. Please note the following questions:
1. It appears to me that I need to be comparing my 2023 income to my projected 2024 income, is this correct?
2. Step 2 seems to imply that I need to use information taken from my IRS Form 1040, but I do not yet have this form for 2023 yet. Am I allowed to provide a projected amount for 2023, I am reasonably confident that I can come close? We obviously do not want to pay any additional amounts in 2024 if we do not have to.
3. Do I have to wait until I obtain my IRS Form 1040 in 2024 for my 2023 tax return and then use this information to submit the SSA-44 Form?
Our income in 2024 will be less than half of what it is in 2023.
Thank you in advance for your prompt response to our questions.
Congratulations on your upcoming retirement. A couple of notes on your questions.
1. If 2023 income is partially lower because of your retirement, and it works for reducing or eliminating your IRMAA, you can use it. But if you want to use an estimate for 2024, you could do that in Step 3.
2. In the SSA-44 instructions (page 6), you can use any year for actual or estimated MAGI as long as it's later than the year that the SSA used. See the part starting with "Choose this year (the 'premium year')...."
3. No. I would probably respond once I see the IRMAA letter, which probably should show up in November or December.
I hope this helps.
Great information however, I do have one question. If my wife and I file our taxes as "Married filing jointly" do we both have to fill out separate a SSA-44 Forms ?
Married couples filing a joint tax return do have to file a separate Form SSA-44. The SSA will not automatically stop one spouse's IRMAA simply because they processed the Form SSA-44 for the other spouse.
@@teachmepersonalfinance2169 Thank you, your video and reply to my question have been very useful !!!!!
We sold our home in 2022 which shot us up into a higher yearly earning bracket. However, we re-invested the added income from the previous home into a new home. Is this the appropriate form to fill out? Social Security instructed us to fill out SSA form 44.
It's likely that Social Security recommended this form because it might be the most likely way that you can reduce or eliminate any IRMAA. However, to actually reduce your IRMAA, you would have to qualify under a life-changing event...selling your home under normal circumstances does not qualify, regardless of what you did with the proceeds.
Without knowing more about your tax or financial situation, I would offer these suggestions:
1. Make sure your 2022 income was reported correctly on your tax return. Section 121 of the Internal Revenue Code allows taxpayers to exclude up to $250,000 ($500,000 for married couples filing a joint return) on the sale of their primary residence from taxable income, as long as they have owned and lived in the house for 2 of the previous 5 years. If your tax bill does not reflect this, then you can correct it using an amended tax return. And you'd probably receive a decent-sized refund.
2. If your tax bill was properly reported on the original return, then check the Form SSA-44 itself (starting on Page 5) to see if you meet the criterial for one of the qualifying life-changing events, known as LCEs. These include:
Change in marital status (marriage or divorce)
Death of a spouse
Work stoppage or reduction (such as retirement or semi-retirement)
Loss of income-producing property (involuntary)
Loss of pension income
Employer settlement payment
Thanks for the video but I'm still confused about steps 2 & 3 given our situation. My wife and I both received IRMAA letters this month stating the monthly increase for 2024 payments based on our 2022 income. We sold a rental property in 2022 which accounted for the MAGI increase into a higher adjustment bracket. Then in August of this year, I was terminated and subsequently retired, my wife is already retired. However, with severance and vacation pay my 2023 MAGI will actually be higher than in 2022 putting us into an even higher adjustment bracket.
1) Should we be using this form to appeal the 2024 IRMAA now or accept as is and wait until 2025 IRMAA information is provided?
2) If we can use this form now, what information do we put in step 2 and 3? I don't want to show a higher 2023 MAGI in step 2 then what was used in the provided letter and have them increase the IRMAA even more. My MAGI essentially will now decrease until 2024 when I no longer have working income.
Thanks in advance for your reply.
Pretend that you didn't sell your rental property, even if that was the cause of your increase. You could still use Form SSA-44 because of your retirement. Your 2023 information would go into Step 2, then your 2024 estimate would go into step 3. The SSA should refigure your Medicare premium based upon your 2024 estimate, regardless of what your 2023 income was.
This was very helpful, but i do have a few questions b/c i'm still confused about what proof the goverment needs to see.
My IRMAA is being calculated based on my 2022 M-AGI, but i'm retiring this month, so i expect a substantial decline in my income for 2024. Our M-AGI was above >$386k in 2022 and 2023, but SHOULD drop to under $200K in 2024. So, i have a few questions that were no really addressed in the video:
1. Since 2024 is my life changing event, what proof can i show?
2. Step 2 - Since 2022 is what the government is using to determine IRMAA, shouldn't i write 2022 here and submit my 2022 1040 or should i list 2023 and submit my 1040 for 2023?
3. If 2023, I have not completed my tax return yet. What should i do? Should i wait until my tax return is completed before i submit this to the government? How much time do i have to submit this?
4. Does my wife have to fill this out too or will one form be good for us both?
5. Will i have to do this again in January of 2025? If yes, i assume i should wait to do my 2024 tax return before submitting the form or does it matter?
6. Is it better to do that in person or mail it in? Can we walk into our local SSA office to address this or need an appointment?
Sorry for the many questions. Thank you so much.
I'll see how I can answer each question:
1. The last page of your Form SSA-44 contains examples of documentation that you can include when submitting your Form SSA-44.
2. I would suggest using 2024, since that is the year of the life-changing event. Page 6 of the form covers several scenarios about this.
3. You should wait until you actually have retired, so you can truthfully send the documentation about your work stoppage event. Your tax return probably doesn't really impact this.
4. Your wife will have to complete this.
5. You may have to do this in 2025, if you think your 2023 tax return will be similar to 2022's return.
6. I always advocate for in-person meetings when available, and I would recommend setting up an appointment. However, I also understand that a major source of frustration is waiting for appointments or not being able to get through the red tape. I think it's worth the wait.
@@teachmepersonalfinance2169 THANK YOU!
What if there is no life changing event? Hubby won $316,555 gambling (as per W2Gs) and we claimed it as income, but his losses (deduction) were $277,757 in 2022.. Looking at other years, he has never done this before and our income is well below the normal amount to incur a regular medicare payment. Our payments will jump up to over $500 each! This is scarey and trying to see if we can do something...or not?
I don’t think you have a lot of options for using SSA-44 in this situation. You can minimize your taxes by making sure your husband’s gambling losses are properly reported on Schedule A as miscellaneous other deductions, which should lower your tax bill. You would have to first report your husband's gambling on Schedule 1 as additional income. I've inserted links to articles and videos we've created on both schedules below.
If you have to amend your tax return, then you can report your lower taxable income to the SSA to reduce your IRMAA, it you don’t need to file SSA-44 to do that. Your IRMAA would then be adjusted accordingly.
IRS Schedule 1, Additional Income and Adjustments to Income
Article: www.teachmepersonalfinance.com/irs-schedule-1-instructions/
Video: th-cam.com/video/TUMnegmniDI/w-d-xo.html
IRS Schedule A, Itemized Deductions
Article: www.teachmepersonalfinance.com/irs-schedule-a-instructions/
Video: th-cam.com/video/-7YUwQ6Q1LI/w-d-xo.html
Other Itemized Deductions: th-cam.com/video/YMdlVAtklKo/w-d-xo.html
My income has been consistent through the years. But, as of January 2024 I will be laid off but my income will remain consistent even in 2024 due to a severance package.
My income will go down in 2025 due to no income and no severance. I will have to pay IRMAA in 2025 due to my filing status changing to a single filer in 2023 from married filing jointly in 2022. My husband passed away in 2022.
So when I fill out the form SSA-44,in January 2025, I will fill it out in the following way:
On SSA-44, the life changing event will be "Death of a Spouse".
Step 2: This will be my 2022 tax income which is the year my husband passed.
Step 3: This will be my estimated 2025 tax income showing my income will go way down.
Is that correct?
I would probably wait until you get your IRMAA letter in 2024. You could use your loss of income as a reason, or the change in your tax filing status. Either way, it appears that you would be able to file Form SSA 44 to reduce or eliminate your IRMAA.
@@teachmepersonalfinance2169 Thanks for the reply, but I'm still very confused how to fill out the form. I plan to wait till January 2025 to fill out form 44. As you can see in my original post Step 2 is 2022 and Step 3 is 2025 because my income doesn't go down until 2025.
But the form directions says that in Step 2 "the year you choose must be more recent than the year of the tax information we used". I have 2022 when my life changing event occurred which is my husband's passing which is not "more recent". Step 3 says," "next year" will your MAGI be lower? Can't put 2023 because that would be higher. My income doesn't go down until 2025.
Also, I could use my lower income to claim, but the life changing event is 2024 when I am laid off . My income is not lower that year. According to the form Step 2 is a "reduction in income".
Step 2: 2024 income which is not lower due to severance.
Step 3: 2025 which is lower income.
In both circumstances, for my husband's passing and my lower income, what years would I use for Step 2 and 3 when I fill out the form on January 2025?
Thanks so much!!!
@@trish489 If I were in your position, I would use the loss of your job (2024) as the Step 2 year, then 2025 as the lower income year. Although your income isn't lower in 2024, 2024 appears to be the year of that life-changing event.
Because this qualifies on its own, I probably would not include the information about the loss of your husband. While that's unfortunate, I don't know that the additional information helps the SSA give you what you're looking for.
@@teachmepersonalfinance2169 Thank you again! So I could still qualify even though my income went down in 2025 and not in 2024?
@@trish489 That should be correct.
A bit of confusion. At 5:43 you state one enters the income from their 1040 tax return. My wife died in July 2023 and I have not filed my return for 2023 yet. I am asking for a refund for the 2023 IRMAA premiums due to a significantly lower income for 2023 following her death. In this case, for Step 2, would I enter 2023 in the Tax Year and my estimated income for 2023 and check No for Step 3?
I'm sorry to hear about your wife's passing.
According to the SSA-44 instructions, if you expected 2023 income to be lower than 2022 actual income because of your wife's death, then you would use 2022 as the tax year in Step 2, then 2023 estimated tax information in Step 3 (check Yes).
@@teachmepersonalfinance2169 Thankyou.. A simple question but the instructions are confusing.