Form SSA-44 is the Social Security form you use to tell SSA that your income dropped because of a life-changing event, so it should stop charging you the Medicare IRMAA surcharge based on a tax return that is two years old. The current edition is Form SSA-44 (12-2025), eight pages, OMB No. 0960-0784, free from ssa.gov. SSA accepts exactly eight events: marriage, divorce or annulment, death of your spouse, work stoppage, work reduction, loss of income-producing property, loss of pension income, and an employer settlement payment. You can complete it online inside a my Social Security account, fax or mail it to a Social Security office, or skip the form entirely and report the event by phone. Filing it is free, and SSA estimates the form takes about 45 minutes.
This page is the procedure: the events, the proof each one needs, how to fill in the five steps, and how a corrected premium or a refund actually shows up. For the surcharge amounts themselves, see our 2026 IRMAA bracket tables and the 2027 threshold outlook.
SSA-44 Is Not an Appeal, and That Distinction Saves You Time
Social Security treats a life-changing event request as a new initial determination, which is a brand new decision. It does not reopen or revise the old one, and you do not have to prove SSA was wrong. Per SSA's own policy manual, "If the beneficiary meets the criteria for a new initial determination, there is no need to appeal the prior determination" (POMS HI 01120.001B).
An appeal is a different track with a 60 day clock. A new initial determination has no 60 day clock at all. You can request one any time after the event and the income drop have happened, and the event itself can have occurred years ago, so long as it came before the income went down.
| New initial determination (SSA-44) | Appeal (reconsideration) |
|---|
| What you are saying | My income went down because of a qualifying event | SSA used the wrong information or applied the rule wrong |
| Form | SSA-44 (optional) | SSA-561-U2, or file online |
| Deadline | No 60 day limit | 60 days from receipt of the notice |
| Typical use | Retirement, widowhood, divorce, hours cut | IRS data is wrong, wrong filing status recorded |
You are allowed to do both at once if you are still inside the appeal period. Many people do not need to.
Before You File: Check the Threshold First
Page 1 of the form says that if your most recently filed return showed MAGI at or below the first threshold, you owe no IRMAA and you should not fill out the form even if a life-changing event happened to you.
For premium year 2026, those thresholds are $109,000 for single, head of household, qualifying surviving spouse, and married filing separately while living apart all year, and $218,000 for married filing jointly. The 2026 standard Part B premium is $202.90 a month. MAGI here means your adjusted gross income from line 11 of IRS Form 1040 plus your tax-exempt interest from line 2a.
One more limit: if the data SSA receives from the IRS does not show that you owe an IRMAA at all, SSA cannot impose one using numbers you supply. The form only moves in one direction, downward.
The Eight Life-Changing Events, and the Proof Each One Takes
SSA's list is exclusive. An event that is not on it does not qualify, no matter how much it cut your income. The evidence column below is taken from page 8 of Form SSA-44 and from SSA's program manual sections HI 01120.010 through HI 01120.043.
| Event (as checked in Step 1) | Use it when | Evidence SSA asks for |
|---|
| Marriage | You entered a legal marriage | Original marriage certificate, or a certified copy of the public record of marriage |
| Divorce/Annulment | Your marriage legally ended and you will not file jointly | Certified copy of the divorce decree or annulment |
| Death of Your Spouse | Your spouse died | Certified copy of the death certificate, the public record of death, or a coroner's certificate |
| Work Stoppage | You or your spouse stopped working, including retirement, layoff, or sale of a business | Signed statement from the employer, a retirement letter, corporate minutes, record of a business transfer or sale, or your own signed statement under penalty of perjury |
| Work Reduction | You or your spouse cut hours, including a move to part time | Employer statement, past and current pay stubs showing the change in hours, corporate minutes, business transfer record, or your own statement under penalty of perjury |
| Loss of Income-Producing Property | Property that generated income was lost for reasons outside your control | Insurance adjuster's statement of loss, or a letter from a state or federal agency about the uncompensated loss. For investment fraud, proof of conviction for the theft is required and is the only proof accepted |
| Loss of Pension Income | A scheduled cessation, termination, or reorganization of an employer pension plan | Letter or statement from the pension fund administrator explaining the reduction or termination |
| Employer Settlement Payment | You or your spouse received a settlement because of the employer's closure, bankruptcy, or reorganization | Letter from the employer stating the settlement terms and how it affects you |
Two details inside that table matter more than the rest.
Work stoppage and work reduction are the easy ones. SSA's instructions to its own staff say to accept the beneficiary's statement as proof of the stop in work, after reading the attestation. You sign under penalty of perjury on the form, and that can stand in for an employer letter. This is why retirement is the most common successful SSA-44.
Loss of income-producing property is the hard one. The property has to actually produce income, so a coin collection, a stamp collection, or a vacation home used personally does not count. And the loss must be outside your direction. A flood, a hurricane, a fire, crop or livestock disease, arson, eminent domain, theft, or embezzlement all count. Selling, gifting, donating, or transferring the property does not, and neither does ordinary investment risk.
Events That Do Not Qualify
SSA lists these explicitly as non-qualifying (POMS HI 01120.005D):
- Capital gains from the sale of property
- Converting a traditional IRA to a Roth
- Lottery winnings and casino winnings
- Cashing in bonds
- Voluntary sale of income-producing property
- Ordinary loss of dividend income, unless the loss came from criminal theft
- Higher medical expenses or higher living expenses
- Loss of child support or loss of alimony
The first four are the ones that sting, because they are the usual reason a one-year income spike pushed someone over a threshold. A single large Roth conversion or a home sale raises your premium two years later and there is no form to undo it. That is the lookback working as designed, not a mistake you can correct. If you are planning ahead, see the two-year lookback explainer.
Filling In the Five Steps
Identifying information. Your full name and your own Social Security number as they appear on your Social Security card. The form warns that this number may differ from the number printed on your Medicare card.
Step 1: the event and its date. Check any event on the list and write the month and year it happened. The rule is that the event date has to fall in the same year as, or an earlier year than, the tax year you want SSA to use. Retiring in June 2026 supports a request to use 2026 income. It cannot support a request to use 2025 income.
Step 2: the reduction that already happened. Enter the tax year, your adjusted gross income, your tax-exempt interest, and your tax filing status for that year. Figures can be actual or estimated. Which year you pick:
- Pick the current premium year if your income is lower this year than last, either because the drop did not start until this year or because it will go lower still this year.
- Pick the year before the premium year if your income fell last year and will be no lower this year.
- Exception: if SSA used a return from three years before the premium year, you can ask it to use the two-year-old one instead. Your IRMAA notice tells you which year it used.
Step 3: next year, if it will be lower again. Only fill this in if you expect your MAGI to be lower in the following year than the year you entered in Step 2. If you leave Step 3 blank, SSA carries your Step 2 estimate forward and uses it for the next premium year as well. SSA's instructions tell staff who receive an SSA-44 without a second-year estimate to contact the beneficiary about it, so filling it in when it applies prevents a phone call.
Step 4: documentation. You either attach the evidence, and SSA mails your originals or certified copies back to you, or you show the originals to an SSA employee. If you already filed the return for the year in Step 2, you must provide a signed copy of that return or an IRS transcript. If you gave an estimate instead, you have to show SSA the signed return once you file it.
Step 5: signature. You declare under penalty of perjury that the information is true, and you acknowledge that SSA will check your statements against IRS records. Include a phone number and your current mailing address. The form notes that a signature alone is not a request: it only counts when it arrives with evidence of the event plus a copy of your tax return or other evidence of the more recent year's MAGI.
A Filled-In Example
Diane is single, turned 66 in 2025, and retired at the end of June 2026. Her 2026 IRMAA was set from her 2024 return, which showed MAGI of $150,000 while she was still working. That put her in the second bracket: $202.90 standard Part B plus a $202.90 adjustment, $405.80 a month, plus a $37.50 adjustment on top of her Part D plan premium.
Her 2026 income will be about $78,000 once her salary stops in July, which is below the $109,000 threshold, so her 2026 IRMAA should be zero.
| Form field | What Diane enters |
|---|
| Step 1 event | Work Stoppage, 06/2026 |
| Step 2 tax year | 2026 |
| Step 2 adjusted gross income | $76,500.00 |
| Step 2 tax-exempt interest | $1,500.00 |
| Step 2 filing status | Single |
| Step 3 | No, because 2027 income will be about the same, not lower |
| Step 4 evidence | Her retirement letter from HR, plus a signed 2026 return once she files it in 2027 |
She had Part B all year, so a favorable determination is effective January 2026. The $240.40 a month in combined adjustments comes off her premium going forward, and the months already withheld at the higher rate get corrected. Over a full year that is $2,884.80.
Where to Send It
| Route | How it works |
|---|
| Online | Sign in to or create a my Social Security account and complete or upload the SSA-44 through SSA's document upload service, reachable from ssa.gov/medicare/lower-irmaa |
| Fax or mail | Print the form, attach evidence, and send it to a Social Security office. Find yours at ssa.gov/locator |
| In person or by appointment | Schedule an appointment from your my Social Security account and bring the originals |
| By phone, no form at all | Call 1-800-772-1213, TTY 1-800-325-0778, weekdays 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., and say you want to lower your IRMAA because of a life-changing event |
That last row is not a shortcut we invented. SSA's own instructions say the SSA-44 is optional, and that you can request a new initial determination verbally or in writing. The form exists mainly so that you do not have to go into an office. If you live outside the United States, including territories, you contact a Federal Benefits Unit instead.
Two situations use a different route entirely. If you amended your tax return, do not use SSA-44, call SSA and bring the amended return plus your IRS acknowledgment receipt. If your filing status was married filing separately but you lived apart from your spouse for the entire tax year, the form itself tells you not to use it and to call instead.
What Happens Next, and How the Refund Shows Up
SSA makes a new determination and mails you a notice. If it is favorable, the effective date is January of the premium year you asked about, as long as you had Part B for the whole year. If your Part B started mid-year, the effective date is your first month of Part B entitlement. The Part D adjustment follows the same rule from your drug coverage start date.
Because Part B premiums come out of your monthly Social Security payment, a corrected premium shows up as a larger net deposit starting with the next payment SSA can change. Amounts already withheld at the higher rate for earlier months of that premium year are corrected afterward, which is what the form means when it warns that SSA "may have to make corrections later including retroactive assessments or refunds." If your Part D adjustment is bigger than your Social Security payment, or you do not receive a monthly payment, that piece is billed separately by CMS or the Railroad Retirement Board, and corrections run through that bill instead.
The word "assessments" in that sentence cuts both ways, and this is the part to take seriously. When you file on an estimate, SSA later checks it against your actual IRS data. If your real MAGI comes in higher than what you wrote, the surcharge is reinstated for those months and you owe the difference. If your estimate changes during the year, or you amend the return you based it on, you have to contact SSA to update it.
How Far Back a Request Can Reach
A new initial determination is normally effective for the year the event happened or any year after, and SSA ordinarily will not apply it retroactively to a prior premium year. There is one narrow exception, and it is the reason this form spikes every January: if the event that caused the drop happened in the last three calendar months of the previous premium year, and SSA receives your request for that earlier year by March 31 of the current year, it can reach back. Late requests can still be accepted if you establish good cause.
So someone who retired in November 2026 and wants the fix applied to premium year 2026 should file by March 31, 2027. Someone who retires in February 2027 is asking about premium year 2027 and has no particular rush.
When to Appeal Instead
Your annual IRMAA letter arrives with the cost-of-living notices in late autumn. SSA calls it a targeted cost-of-living adjustment notice, and it is an initial determination that carries appeal rights, not just an informational mailer.
If the problem is that SSA has the facts wrong rather than that your income fell, that is an appeal. You request reconsideration within 60 days of receiving the notice, and SSA counts receipt as five days after the date on the notice unless you show otherwise. File online or use Form SSA-561-U2. There are four levels: reconsideration at the field office or processing center, a hearing before an administrative law judge at the HHS Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals using Form HA-501-U5, review by the Medicare Appeals Council, and then federal court.
One caveat worth knowing: if you disagree with the MAGI figure itself, SSA cannot fix that. You have to correct it with the IRS. And if SSA charged you a Part D adjustment when you do not have drug coverage, that correction goes through 1-800-MEDICARE, because the coverage data comes from CMS.
A thinner version of this appeal path exists on CoveredUSA's IRMAA life event page if you want a short overview rather than the full walkthrough.
2027: What Is Known and What Is Not
As of today, CMS has not published the 2027 Part B premium, the 2027 Part B deductible, or the 2027 IRMAA income thresholds. CMS normally announces them in mid-November. Anything you see labeled as a 2027 bracket right now is a projection, including the figures in the Medicare Trustees Report.
What is already settled about 2027:
- Your 2027 IRMAA will be set from your 2025 MAGI, because the lookback is always two years.
- The form works identically regardless of which premium year you are asking about. Only the dollar figures printed on page 1 change when CMS updates them.
- If your 2025 income was inflated by something that is not on the list of eight events, such as a Roth conversion or a property sale, no SSA-44 will help for 2027. The surcharge lasts one year and falls off when your 2026 return catches up with you in 2028.
Download a fresh copy of the form before you file. SSA updates it each December to reprint the new year's bracket table, and the current edition says "Discontinue Prior Editions" at the top for a reason.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Form SSA-44 used for?
It asks Social Security to set your Medicare IRMAA surcharge using a more recent and lower income year, instead of the tax return from two years ago, after one of eight qualifying life-changing events reduced your income. It is formally titled "Medicare Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount - Life-Changing Event."
Is there a deadline to file Form SSA-44?
No. Unlike an appeal, there is no 60 day window. You can request a new initial determination any time after the event and the income reduction have both happened, and the event itself may have happened years earlier. The only date that matters is March 31, which is the cutoff for reaching back to the prior premium year when the event happened in October, November, or December of that year.
Does retirement qualify as a life-changing event?
Yes. It falls under work stoppage, which SSA lists along with layoffs and the sale of a business. Cutting back to part time counts separately as work reduction. These are the two events where SSA will accept your own signed statement under penalty of perjury as proof if you have no employer letter.
Does a Roth conversion or a home sale qualify?
No. SSA names IRA conversions, capital gains from a property sale, lottery winnings, casino winnings, and cashing bonds as non-qualifying one-time events. The resulting surcharge applies for one premium year and then drops off once the following year's return reaches SSA.
Do I have to use the form, or can I just call?
The form is optional. SSA's instructions say you can request a new initial determination verbally or in writing, and the form's own first page points you to 1-800-772-1213 if you would rather schedule an interview at a field office. The form matters most for people who do not want to visit an office.
How long does it take, and how will I know it worked?
SSA mails a notice with the new determination. The reduced premium then appears as a larger net Social Security deposit, since Part B is deducted from that payment, and the earlier months of the premium year are corrected afterward. There is no published processing time, so if weeks pass with no notice, call 1-800-772-1213 and ask about the status of the new initial determination.
What if my income estimate turns out to be wrong?
SSA verifies your estimate against IRS records later. If your actual MAGI is higher than you estimated, the surcharge is reinstated for those months and you owe the difference. You are expected to contact SSA if your estimate changes or you amend the return it was based on, and to send a signed copy of the return once you file it.
Does one spouse's SSA-44 cover the other?
No. SSA is explicit that a report applies only to the person reporting it and is never extended to a non-reporting spouse or ex-spouse. If both of you are on Medicare and both are affected, each of you has to contact SSA separately.
