Medicare Part B IRMAA 2027 Tier Checker
Check your 2027 Medicare Part B and Part D IRMAA tier based on your 2025 MAGI. See total monthly surcharge, annual cost, and how to appeal a life-changing event. Free, private, runs in your browser.
| 2027 Tier | MAGI Threshold | Total Part B | Part D IRMAA |
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What is IRMAA on Medicare and how is it calculated?
IRMAA (Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount) is a surcharge added to your Medicare Part B and Part D premiums when your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) exceeds certain thresholds. It is the federal government's way of charging higher-income retirees more for the same Medicare coverage — effectively a means test that can add over $400/month to a single retiree's Part B premium in the top tier.
IRMAA is based on your tax return from two years prior. So 2027 IRMAA uses your 2025 MAGI. This two-year lookback creates planning opportunities (and pitfalls): a one-time event in your last working year — a Roth conversion, business sale, large capital gain — can push you into a higher IRMAA tier for the entire year after Medicare enrollment, costing thousands.
How to use this Medicare IRMAA tier checker
Select your tax filing status — IRMAA thresholds differ for single, married filing jointly, and married filing separately (the MFS thresholds are punitive, starting at the same low point as Tier 4 for singles). Enter your 2025 MAGI, which equals your AGI from Form 1040 PLUS tax-exempt interest (Line 2a). Common income items that count: wages, self-employment, pensions, taxable Social Security, Roth conversions, capital gains, dividends, interest, traditional IRA RMDs, and rental income.
The calculator returns your IRMAA tier (0 through 5), the total monthly Part B premium with surcharge, your annual cost, and the extra you'd pay above the base Part B premium. The table below shows all six tiers with the projected 2027 thresholds, total monthly Part B, and Part D IRMAA add-on.
Strategies to reduce or appeal IRMAA
If your MAGI is going to push you over a threshold, consider these moves in the year that counts (two years before you enroll in Medicare):
- Roth conversion timing: Do Roth conversions BEFORE age 63 to avoid IRMAA spillover at 65.
- Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs): Up to $105,000/year (2024, indexed) from IRA goes directly to charity — counts toward RMD but not MAGI.
- Tax-loss harvesting: Offset realized capital gains with realized losses.
- QLAC annuity: Defer RMDs from up to $200,000 (2024) of IRA balance into a QLAC.
- HSA contributions: If still HDHP-eligible, max out HSA — reduces AGI dollar-for-dollar.
- Spread large taxable events across two or more tax years.
Appealing IRMAA: If you experienced a "life-changing event" (retirement, work reduction, marriage, divorce, widowhood, loss of pension, settlement, loss of income-producing property), file Form SSA-44 with the Social Security Administration to request an IRMAA reduction based on current expected income. Appeals must be filed within 60 days of receiving your IRMAA determination notice — but you can also appeal anytime new circumstances reduce your income.
Source: medicare.gov — Medicare Costs at a Glance; ssa.gov Form SSA-44; CMS IRMAA Income Thresholds. Updated May 2026.