IRMAA Brackets 2026: Property Sale, Roth Conversion, MAGI

The 2026 IRMAA table

Two official documents carry the same numbers: the CMS fact sheet of November 14, 2025 and SSA POMS HI 01101.020 (effective December 2, 2025). Amounts below are monthly, per person. The “MAGI” column is the tax-year-2024 income that sets 2026 premiums.

Source: SSA POMS HI 01101.020 and CMS “2026 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles” (November 14, 2025). The two right-hand columns are our arithmetic: (Part B surcharge + Part D surcharge) x 12, and twice that for two enrolled spouses. The Part B surcharge is the total minus $202.90 (for example $689.90 - $202.90 = $487.00).

Two more rules from the same tables. Married people who file separately and lived together at any point in the year have only two tiers: over $109,000 and under $391,000 pays $649.20 for Part B and $83.30 for Part D, and $391,000 or more pays $689.90 and $91.00. And the Part D surcharge is paid in addition to your plan's own premium, whichever plan you choose (POMS HI 01101.020; CMS). For scale, SSA states that most enrollees pay about 25 percent of the estimated cost of Part B, and the share rises to 35, 50, 65, 80 and 85 percent across the five levels (POMS HI 01101.001 and HI 01101.031).

The tiers are cliffs. A MAGI of $218,000 joint costs nothing; $218,001 puts both spouses in tier 1. The thresholds are “more than” figures, so the dollar that matters is the one above the line (our reading of the table).

What MAGI means, and the two-year look-back

POMS HI 01101.010 defines MAGI as the sum of your adjusted gross income, found on line 11 of Form 1040, and your tax-exempt interest, line 2a. It is the figure the IRS gives SSA, usually from the return filed two years before the premium year, and no more than three years back if the later one is unavailable (HI 01101.030). The same section says it directly: “2026 premiums are generally based on 2024 tax return information.”

Source: SSA POMS HI 01101.010 and HI 01101.030 for the rule; the mapping and the status column are our arithmetic and our check on October 19, 2026.

That has three consequences for a real estate investor. A sale you closed in 2025 is already in the income SSA will use for 2027, and nothing you do in 2026 changes that return. A decision made in the last months of 2026 shows up in 2028 premiums, and the 2028 tables do not exist yet. And a Roth conversion you make before December 31, 2026 is a 2026 tax-year event (see our Roth conversion guide). The worked examples below apply the 2026 table as an illustration of how the tiers behave; the real 2028 lines will differ.

What in real estate and alternatives raises MAGI

MAGI is read off the return, so anything that reaches adjusted gross income counts. For the investments this site covers, the entries that matter are these (our reading of the IRS texts cited).

• Gain on selling a rental or other investment property. The whole recognized gain, including the part due to depreciation, is in adjusted gross income. IRS Publication 544 describes “unrecaptured section 1250 gain” as the part of a long-term gain on real property that is due to depreciation, with a 25% top rate. That 25% is an income tax rate; for IRMAA the character does not matter, only that the dollars are in AGI. See capital gains tax on real estate in 2026 and depreciation recapture on a rental property.
• Boot in a 1031 exchange. The Instructions for Form 8824 state that if you also receive “other (non-like-kind) property or money, gain is recognized to the extent of the other property and money received.” Net liabilities assumed by the other party count on line 15, so debt relief can be boot even if no cash reaches you. The deferred part of the gain stays out of AGI. See 1031 exchange rules for 2026.
• Installment sales. Pub. 537 says depreciation recapture income that is ordinary income is reported in the year of sale “whether or not an installment payment was received that year”; only the gain above it is spread under the installment method. See installment sales of real estate.
• Roth conversions. Pub. 590-B says conversion distributions are includible in gross income, so the converted amount (less any after-tax basis) is in the year's AGI.
• Fund distributions. Capital gain distributions come from box 2a of Form 1099-DIV and go on Form 1040 line 7a; gains from a partnership, REIT operating partnership or DST arrive on a Schedule K-1. A fund that sells property in its own year can raise your AGI even if you reinvest everything (our reading).
• What lowers it. A qualified charitable distribution is, in Pub. 590-B's words, “generally a nontaxable distribution” made directly from your IRA to a charity, available from age 70½. Because it is not included in income, it does not raise AGI (our reading). The 2025 edition of the publication states a $108,000 annual limit; check the 2026 figure before you plan.

Worked examples (our arithmetic)

All four use the 2026 table above, assume both spouses are enrolled in Parts B and D, and use round assumptions of ours. They are illustrations, not forecasts of anyone's premium.

Source: our arithmetic on the CMS and SSA 2026 tables; the 1031 boot rule is from the Instructions for Form 8824 (2025), the recapture rule from IRS Publication 537, the conversion rule from Publication 590-B (2025).

A. The sale. The couple's baseline of $160,000 is $58,000 under the $218,000 joint threshold. A $400,000 gain takes them to $560,000, tier 4 for joint filers (over $410,000 and under $750,000), where each spouse pays $446.30 more for Part B and $83.30 more for Part D a month: $529.60 x 12 = $6,355.20 each, $12,710.40 together. Splitting the gain between $280,000 of price appreciation and $120,000 of depreciation changes the income tax, not the IRMAA tier.

A2. Spreading it. If $30,000 of the depreciation is ordinary recapture reported in year 1 (an assumption of ours, for instance from accelerated components) and the other $370,000 of gain arrives in four equal installments of $92,500, MAGI is $282,500 in year 1 (tier 2) and $252,500 in each of years 2 to 4 (tier 1). The couple pays $5,769.60 in the first premium year and $2,296.80 in each of the next three, $12,660.00 in all. Spreading buys a lower federal income tax bracket perhaps, but it does not make the IRMAA bill go away; it moves it across four premium years. A seller with less other income could do better, and one with a tier boundary just above the installment could do worse.

B. The conversion. A single filer with $100,000 of other MAGI has $9,000 of room under $109,000. At $9,001 the whole tier-1 cost of $1,148.40 a year arrives; a $50,000 conversion lands in tier 2 at $2,884.80 a year. The conversion's income tax is separate; our Roth conversion guide says it did not verify the Medicare effect, and this page supplies it.

C. The boot. As an illustration, selling a $1,000,000 property and buying a $950,000 one leaves $50,000 of cash that does not go into the replacement. Form 8824 recognizes gain up to that cash. With $210,000 of other MAGI the couple moves from $0 to tier 1: $95.70 a month each, $2,296.80 a year together. The rest of the gain is deferred and is not in MAGI that year, but it returns in the year the replacement is sold.

Can SSA use a more recent year? The life-changing event rule

SSA will re-determine IRMAA on a more recent tax year if you have one of eight life-changing events: death of spouse, marriage, divorce or annulment, work reduction, work stoppage, loss of income-producing property, loss of employer pension, or a settlement payment from a current or former employer (POMS HI 01120.005C). The event has to cause a “significant” fall in MAGI.

For a real estate investor the line that matters is the one about property. HI 01120.035 allows a re-determination for loss of income-producing property beyond your control, and gives “Natural disasters”, “Arson”, “Buy-out of the property by a government under Eminent Domain” and theft, including “investment fraud”, as examples. It also says “A loss due to donation, gift, sale or transfer of income-producing property is not considered a loss beyond the beneficiary's control.” HI 01120.005D lists “Voluntary sale of income-producing property” among examples of events that are not life-changing, and, for the opposite case of a one-time income spike, it names “Capital gains from the sale of property” and “Conversion of an IRA” as non-qualifying events.

The same sale can, however, feed a different event. A work stoppage or reduction, a divorce or the death of a spouse in the same period can each qualify on its own terms, and SSA accepts the beneficiary's statement under penalty of perjury (HI 01120.005A). Form SSA-44 is the optional form for reporting such an event; per HI 01120.001, “use of the form is optional” and it is “only for beneficiaries wishing to request a new initial determination, based on a valid LCE”. Whether your facts fit is for SSA to decide.

What a reader can do with this

• Find the line before you sell. Take the AGI on your most recent return, add tax-exempt interest, and subtract it from the next threshold. Your headroom is what a sale, conversion or boot can add before a cliff.
• Ask which year the gain lands in. A closing in the last week of December and one in the first week of January sit in different tax years and set different premium years (our arithmetic). Installment treatment and 1031 timing also decide the year.
• Do not assume the sale can be reversed afterwards. SSA treats a voluntary sale as a non-qualifying event; if your MAGI drops later because of a listed event, the event itself must qualify.
• Check both spouses. Each enrolled person pays the surcharge, so a cliff costs a couple twice (our arithmetic). Only the person who reports an event gets the re-determination (HI 01120.005).
• Compare the IRMAA with the income tax. A cost of a few thousand dollars in Medicare premiums can be small next to the tax on a $400,000 gain, or large next to a $50,000 conversion. Both go in the same model.
• Re-run this when the 2027 and 2028 tables come out. A planner or CPA can do that with your actual return.

This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice.

FAQ

Sources, read and saved on October 19, 2026: SSA Program Operations Manual System HI 01101.001, HI 01101.010, HI 01101.020, HI 01101.030, HI 01101.031, HI 01120.001, HI 01120.005 and HI 01120.035 (secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf); CMS fact sheet “2026 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles”, November 14, 2025; IRS Instructions for Form 8824 (2025), Instructions for Form 1040 (2025), Publications 537, 544 (2025) and 590-B (2025). Examples and annual totals are our arithmetic.