A plan-neutral Medicare IRMAA calculator for brokers and retirement planners

It compares the income entered with the CMS bracket thresholds for the filing status chosen, finds the bracket, and adds that bracket's Part B and Part D adjustments to the standard Part B premium and any Part D plan premium. It then shows household monthly totals, yearly surcharges and the income room before the next bracket.

The calculator uses the 2026 figures CMS published on November 14, 2025: a Part B standard premium of $202.90 a month, with IRMAA beginning above $109,000 of MAGI on an individual return and above $218,000 on a joint return (CMS, 2026 Medicare Parts A & B premiums fact sheet, November 2025). The bracket table is maintained when CMS publishes each new year's amounts, usually in the fall.

Brackets are a cliff, not a phase-in: one dollar over a threshold applies that bracket's full surcharge. That is why the income room before next bracket result matters to clients deciding when to realize income.

It does not cover Medicare Advantage or Medigap premiums or Part A premiums, and Part D plan premiums are whatever the visitor enters.

• Part B monthly premium per person, including any surcharge
• Part B and Part D surcharges (IRMAA) and the IRMAA bracket
• Total monthly premiums and yearly IRMAA surcharges for the household
• Income room before the next bracket

Because Social Security usually sets IRMAA from the tax return two years before the premium year, so 2026 premiums generally reflect 2024 income. A Roth conversion, home sale, large capital gain or final bonus can raise premiums two years later, and a big drop in income can take two years to show up.

If income fell because of a life-changing event, the beneficiary can ask Social Security to use a more recent year's income by filing form SSA-44 (opens in a new tab) with proof. Qualifying events include marriage, divorce, a spouse's death, stopping or reducing work, and loss of a pension or income-producing property. The calculator's definitions explain this, so prospects who recently retired often arrive asking about it.

Leave tax strategy to tax professionals. The broker's useful role is to explain how the surcharge works, help the client see the dollar effect, and coordinate with the client's tax adviser or financial planner where the client wants that.

The calculator is educational and plan-neutral: it explains a premium set by law and does not name, compare or recommend any Medicare Advantage, Part D or Medigap plan. Pages around it that do market Medicare Advantage or Part D plans fall under the CMS Medicare Communications and Marketing Guidelines, including the TPMO disclaimer where it applies.

Scope-of-appointment requirements apply when a personal marketing appointment covers Medicare Advantage or Part D products. The CY2027 final rule changed scope-of-appointment requirements, so check the current CMS marketing guidance (opens in a new tab) and your carriers' rules before relying on any timing or process.

A calculator submission is a request to be contacted on the terms in your consent language, not a scope of appointment. Keep the consent wording specific, keep records, and do not imply any connection with Medicare, CMS or Social Security. See our Medicare broker overview for how the calculators fit a compliant site.

Medicare brokers whose clients include higher-income retirees, and life, annuity and retirement-income producers whose clients are making income decisions in their sixties. IRMAA turns abstract tax timing into a monthly premium figure, which makes it one of the few Medicare topics people research well before and long after enrollment.

For Medicare brokers it is a year-round educational asset that is not tied to an enrollment period. For annuity and retirement-income producers it connects income timing with Medicare costs, alongside the immediate annuity calculator.

Remember that a client who learns enrolling in Medicare ends HSA eligibility may also want the HSA contribution calculator, which explains the Medicare cut-off.