Do Roth IRA distributions affect IRMAA Medicare premium surcharges?

Good news - qualified Roth IRA distributions are NOT counted toward your MAGI for IRMAA calculations. Since you've had your Roth for over 5 years and are over 59.5, your distributions are completely tax-free and don't factor into the IRMAA thresholds at all. This is one of the big advantages of Roth accounts for retirement planning. What DOES count toward IRMAA: traditional IRA distributions, pension income, Social Security benefits (up to 85%), capital gains, and even tax-exempt interest from municipal bonds. The MAGI calculation for IRMAA adds back some deductions you might take on your regular taxes.

Be careful with those Roth withdrawls!!! My brother-in-law took money from his Roth last year and got SHOCKED with higher Medicare costs!!! Something about the 5-year rule or something. The SSA rules are NOT the same as IRS rules sometimes!!!

The previous answer is correct - qualified Roth distributions don't impact IRMAA because they don't appear on your tax return as income. But there are a few nuances worth mentioning: 1. Make sure your distributions are truly "qualified" (account open 5+ years and you're 59½+) 2. Be careful with partial conversions from Traditional to Roth in the years before Medicare - those WILL count as income for IRMAA 3. Remember IRMAA looks at your tax return from 2 years prior, so plan accordingly 4. The IRMAA thresholds for 2025 are: - Individual: $97,000 (standard premium) - $97,001-$123,000 (tier 1 surcharge) - $123,001-$153,000 (tier 2 surcharge) - And so on up to tier 5 Combining Roth distributions with careful planning of your taxable income can be a smart strategy for Medicare premium management.

my wife and me got hit with ERMA last year because we sold our house!!! never even thought about it affecting medicre costs but the capital gains pushed us up. roth is diferent tho.

Dealing with the SSA about IRMAA is such a headache! I've been trying to reach someone at Social Security for weeks about my IRMAA determination that was based on outdated income information. Constant busy signals and disconnects. I finally found a service called Claimyr that got me through to an agent in about 20 minutes. They basically call SSA for you and hold your place in line, then call you when they have an agent. Saved me hours of frustration. You can see how it works at https://youtu.be/Z-BRbJw3puU or just go to claimyr.com. Wish I'd known about this months ago when I first started trying to sort out my Medicare premium issues.

Quick tip: if u have a life changing event that reduces income (retirement, divorce, etc), u can file Form SSA-44 to request lower IRMAA even if ur tax return from 2 yrs ago shows higher income. Helped me when I retired!

I just wanted to double-check my understanding - MAGI for IRMAA purposes is essentially your AGI (Adjusted Gross Income) plus tax-exempt interest and excluded foreign income, right? And since qualified Roth distributions don't show up in AGI at all, they're completely invisible to the IRMAA calculation?

DONT FORGET!!! If you do go over an IRMAA threshold even by $1, you pay the higher premium on ALL your Medicare parts - Part B AND Part D!!! The government gets you coming and going!!!

wait im confused... is IRMAA the same thing as the hold harmless provision? or is that something different with medicare and SS?

Thank you all for the helpful information! So to summarize what I've learned: 1. Qualified Roth distributions won't affect my IRMAA calculations at all 2. I need to be careful about other sources of income that could push me over an IRMAA threshold 3. If I have a life-changing event, I can file Form SSA-44 instead of waiting 2 years for my tax return to catch up 4. IRMAA applies to both Part B and Part D premiums This is exactly what I needed to know for my retirement planning. I'm going to review our planned withdrawals for next year to make sure we stay under the thresholds. It sounds like strategically using my Roth accounts is a smart move for Medicare premium management!

This is such valuable information! I'm 61 and starting to think about Medicare planning too. One thing I'm wondering about - does the timing of when you take Roth distributions during the year matter for IRMAA purposes? Like if I take a large distribution in January vs December, would that affect anything since qualified Roth distributions don't show up on the tax return anyway? Also, are there any other "invisible" income sources like Roth distributions that don't count toward IRMAA? I'm trying to build a comprehensive strategy for keeping my Medicare costs as low as possible.

This thread has been incredibly educational! I'm 62 and was completely unaware of how IRMAA works until reading this discussion. The fact that Roth distributions are completely invisible to IRMAA calculations is huge for retirement planning. I've been debating whether to convert some of my traditional IRA to Roth over the next few years, but now I'm realizing I need to be very careful about the timing. Those conversions WILL count as income and could trigger IRMAA surcharges two years later when I'm on Medicare. It sounds like the sweet spot might be to do any conversions before age 63 (so they don't affect Medicare premiums) and then rely heavily on Roth distributions once I'm on Medicare. Has anyone here navigated the timing of Roth conversions with Medicare planning in mind?

This is such a fantastic thread - I've learned more about IRMAA in the last 10 minutes than in months of trying to research this myself! I'm 64 and enrolling in Medicare next year, so this is perfectly timed. One question I haven't seen addressed: what happens if you have both traditional and Roth IRAs and want to take distributions from both in the same year? I assume the traditional IRA distribution would count toward IRMAA but the qualified Roth distribution wouldn't, so you could potentially take $50k from traditional (which counts) and another $50k from Roth (which doesn't count) and only the $50k would be considered for IRMAA purposes? This seems like it could be a powerful strategy for managing income in retirement while on Medicare. Also, does anyone know if there are good online calculators that factor IRMAA into retirement withdrawal planning?

This has been an incredibly informative discussion! As someone who's been working in retirement planning for over a decade, I wanted to add one more important consideration that hasn't been mentioned yet: the impact of spousal planning on IRMAA strategies. For married couples, it's worth noting that if one spouse dies, the surviving spouse will file as single the following year, which means they'll hit IRMAA thresholds at roughly half the income levels they had when filing jointly. This can be a nasty surprise if most of your retirement assets are in the higher-earning spouse's name and they pass away first. The Roth strategy discussed here becomes even more valuable in this scenario - having substantial Roth assets that can provide "invisible" income to the surviving spouse can help avoid unexpected IRMAA surcharges during an already difficult time. It's another reason to consider front-loading those Roth conversions earlier in retirement, even if it means paying some IRMAA in the short term. Also, I'd strongly recommend keeping detailed records of all Roth contributions and conversions with dates. While the 5-year rule is usually straightforward, having clear documentation can save headaches if there are ever questions about whether distributions are truly qualified.