Charlene G Moffatt, PC

📊 IRMAA stands for Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount — a Medicare surcharge added to Part B and Part D premiums for beneficiaries whose income exceeds certain thresholds.

The $1,148 annual figure for Tier 1 combines the Part B surcharge ($81.20/month) and the Part D surcharge ($14.50/month), totaling $95.70/month × 12. These are per-person costs — a married couple where both spouses are on Medicare each pays the surcharge independently.

For married filing jointly, the thresholds are roughly double: $218,000 for Tier 1, $274,000 for Tier 2, up through $410,000 for Tier 4, and $750,000 for Tier 5.

IRMAA is based on Modified Adjusted Gross Income, which includes adjusted gross income plus tax-exempt interest. Municipal bond income counts, even though it is not taxable.

The two-year lookback means income decisions you make today affect Medicare costs two years later. Selling a vacation home, doing a large Roth conversion, or taking an unusually large IRA distribution can all push MAGI over a threshold — and the surcharge applies for the full year.

If income dropped due to a qualifying life event — retirement, death of a spouse, divorce, or reduction in income — Form SSA-44 can be filed with Social Security to request a reduction based on more recent income.

The surcharges shown are above the standard Part B premium of $202.90/month. They are not the total premium — they are the extra amount per tier.

📋 A 401(k) gives you a tax break on contributions, but withdrawals are taxable. A Roth IRA gives you tax-free growth and withdrawals, but no upfront tax break. The HSA is the rare account that can do all three, as long as distributions go toward qualified medical expenses.

In retirement, HSA funds can pay Medicare Part B, Part D, and Medicare Advantage premiums tax-free. Medigap premiums do not qualify.

Qualified HSA withdrawals do not count as income, so unlike IRA distributions, they do not increase AGI, MAGI, or provisional income.

The reimbursement rule has a caveat the original post missed: expenses must have been incurred after the HSA was established, and you cannot use the same expense for another tax benefit.

The biggest misunderstanding in the comments was about Medicare. You can keep and use an existing HSA after enrolling in Medicare, but you generally cannot make new contributions once Medicare coverage begins.

For estate planning, a surviving spouse inherits the HSA and keeps the triple-tax treatment. A non-spouse beneficiary owes income tax on the full balance in the year of death.

HSA contributions through employer payroll can be even more efficient because cafeteria-plan salary reductions are generally excluded from both income tax and F**A.

2026 contribution limits are $4,400 individual, $8,750 family, with a $1,000 catch-up for those 55 and older.

⚖️ This is an updated version of a post I ran about a month ago. The previous version incorrectly suggested the Lady Bird deed's Medicaid protection applied only in Florida and Michigan. It applies in all five states that recognize the deed.

The reason: Florida, Texas, Michigan, Vermont, and West Virginia all use probate-only Medicaid estate recovery. A Lady Bird deed transfers the home outside of probate at death. If the home never enters probate, the state's recovery program cannot reach it.

This is different from states that use expanded estate recovery, where Medicaid can pursue assets that pass outside of probate. In those states, a Lady Bird deed would not provide the same protection, which is one reason the deed is only recognized in five states to begin with.

A TOD deed also avoids probate, but it does not protect against Medicaid recovery in most states. Several states with TOD deeds use expanded recovery definitions that can reach non-probate transfers.

All three tools provide a step-up in basis at death. Your heirs inherit the home at fair market value, not your original purchase price. This was the single most-asked question from the comments.

None of the three require a paid-off mortgage. The deed or trust transfers the property subject to the existing loan. The beneficiary either continues payments, refinances, or sells.

A revocable trust provides no Medicaid protection because you retain control of the assets.

If Medicaid planning is a priority and you live in one of the five Lady Bird states, that deed is the simplest and cheapest option at $200 to $800.

📊 Long-term capital gains are taxed at 0%, 15%, or 20% depending on taxable income. For 2026, single filers pay 0% on gains up to $49,450 in taxable income.

This is an updated version of a post I ran about a month ago. The original generated a lot of comments, and two corrections were worth incorporating.

The first: the 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax. Single filers with MAGI above $200,000 owe an additional 3.8% on capital gains, pushing the effective top rate to 23.8%. Those NIIT thresholds have never been indexed for inflation, so more filers cross them every year.

The second: capital gains do not push wages into a higher bracket, but they do count toward modified adjusted gross income. MAGI is the number that determines IRMAA Medicare surcharges, ACA premium subsidy eligibility, and what percentage of Social Security benefits becomes taxable.

Frank's example in the image shows $45,000 in salary plus $30,000 in long-term gains. His salary fills the 10% and 12% brackets. The gain does not push his salary into 22%. It sits on top and is taxed separately, part at 0% and part at 15%.

The rates shown are for single filers only. Married filing jointly thresholds are roughly double for both ordinary income and capital gains brackets.

Short-term gains held one year or less do not get these preferential rates. They are taxed as ordinary income at 10% to 37%.

📋 IRMAA uses your tax return from two years prior to set your Medicare premiums. A Roth conversion, home sale, or severance package at 63 can push your modified adjusted gross income past a threshold and raise your Part B and Part D premiums at 65 for the entire year.

The first IRMAA tier for single filers in 2026 starts at $106,000 in MAGI. One dollar over that line adds roughly $1,000 per year to your Medicare costs. For married couples filing jointly, the threshold is $212,000.

Catch-up contributions are the one item on this list that works in your favor. Starting at 50, you can add $8,000 to a 401(k) in 2026 on top of the $24,500 standard limit. Between 60 and 63, that catch-up jumps to $11,250 under the SECURE 2.0 super catch-up provision. IRA catch-ups are smaller at $1,100.

The Medicare Part B late enrollment penalty is one of the few financial penalties that never goes away. If you delay enrollment by two years without qualifying coverage, your premium increases 20% for life. The exception is if you had employer coverage through your own job or a spouse's job during that time.

The Social Security earnings test trips up people who claim early and continue working. In 2026, Social Security withholds $1 for every $2 earned above $24,480 if you are under full retirement age. The withheld money is not lost. It is repaid through higher monthly benefits once you reach full retirement age. But most people do not know that and panic when the reduction hits.

The Roth conversion window between retirement and age 73 is where the planning happens. Income is low, RMDs have not started, and conversions fill up lower tax brackets. Waiting until RMDs begin means the conversions stack on top of forced withdrawals.

The coverage gap catches people who retire before 65. Medicare does not start early regardless of when you stop working. COBRA lasts 18 months and is expensive. The ACA marketplace is the other option, and eligibility for premium subsidies depends on income.

🏦 The HSA is the only account in the tax code that is tax-free going in, tax-free growing, and tax-free coming out. No IRA, 401(k), or Roth does all three.

Most people use the HSA like a checking account. They contribute, swipe the debit card at the pharmacy, and the balance stays low. That works, but it misses the biggest advantage.

The strategy: pay medical bills out of pocket from your checking account. Keep every receipt. Let the HSA balance stay invested and compound tax-free. There is no deadline to reimburse yourself. A $3,000 dental bill from 2025 can be reimbursed from the HSA in 2035 or 2040 with no taxes owed.

In retirement, those reimbursements become a source of tax-free income that does not count toward Social Security taxation, does not trigger IRMAA surcharges on Medicare, and does not push you into a higher federal bracket. No other withdrawal source can do that.

After age 65, HSA funds can also be used for non-medical expenses. Without a matching receipt, it is taxed as ordinary income, similar to a traditional IRA. With a receipt, it stays tax-free. That is the difference the receipts make.

The 2025 contribution limit is $4,300 for individual coverage or $8,550 for family. Add $1,000 if you are 55 or older. You must be enrolled in a high-deductible health plan to contribute. Once you enroll in Medicare, contributions stop, but you can still use and invest what is already in the account.

⏳ If you turned 73 in 2025, your first required minimum distribution is due by April 1, 2026. That is less than three weeks from today.

The calculation is straightforward. Take your IRA or 401(k) balance as of December 31, 2024, and divide it by 26.5. That is the IRS divisor for age 73 under the Uniform Lifetime Table. On a $500,000 balance, the minimum withdrawal is $18,868.

The penalty for missing the deadline is 25% of the amount you should have withdrawn. That drops to 10% if you correct it within two years, but there is no reason to risk it.

Here is the part most people miss. If you wait until April 1, 2026 to take your first RMD, you also owe your 2026 RMD by December 31 of the same year. Both count as taxable income in 2026. On a $500,000 account, that is roughly $37,000 in taxable income in one calendar year. That can push you into a higher bracket or trigger IRMAA surcharges on your Medicare premiums two years later.

The RMD percentage increases every year. At 73, the IRS requires 3.77% of your balance. By 80 it is 4.95%. By 90 it is 8.20%. The divisor gets smaller each year, which means the required withdrawal gets larger as a percentage of whatever remains.

Roth IRAs have no RMDs for original owners. Roth 401(k)s also became exempt from RMDs starting in 2025 under SECURE 2.0. This is one reason Roth conversions before age 73 can reduce future RMD exposure.

The RMD age is scheduled to rise to 75 in 2033 for those born in 1960 or later. If you were born between 1951 and 1959, the current age is 73.

📋 When you retire, no employer is withholding taxes from your paycheck. The IRS still expects payment throughout the year — you just have to set it up yourself.

Most retirees have two options: elect withholding directly from Social Security, a pension, or IRA distributions, or make quarterly estimated payments four times a year.

Withholding is simpler for most people. You file one form — W-4V for Social Security, W-4P for IRAs and pensions — and taxes come out automatically. The IRS also treats all withholding as paid evenly across the year, regardless of when it was actually taken.

Quarterly payments work better when income is irregular. A large Roth conversion, a one-time capital gain, or rental income that varies by season — those are situations where matching your payment to when the income arrived makes more sense.

Either way, the safe harbor rule protects you from underpayment penalties. Pay at least 100% of what you owed last year (110% if your AGI exceeded $150,000) and no penalty applies even if you end up owing more at filing.

The $1,000 threshold is the other exception. If your total tax due after withholding and credits is under $1,000, the IRS waives the penalty entirely.

You can also mix and match. Some retirees withhold from Social Security and send in a smaller quarterly payment to cover investment income on top.

More information on the new Trump Accounts.

IR-2026-31: Treasury, IRS issue proposed regulations for Trump Accounts pilot program, Treasury Department to deposit $1,000 into the account of each eligible child IR-2026-31: Treasury, IRS issue proposed regulations for Trump Accounts pilot program, Treasury Department to deposit $1,000 into the account of each eligible child Internal Revenue Service (IRS) sent this bulletin at 03/06/2026 09:35 AM EST IRS Newswire March 6, 2026 Issue Number: IR-2026-31 Inside...

IR-2026-32: IRS announces extended weekday and Saturday hours at Taxpayer Assistance Centers through spring IR-2026-32: IRS announces extended weekday and Saturday hours at Taxpayer Assistance Centers through spring Internal Revenue Service (IRS) sent this bulletin at 03/06/2026 12:05 PM EST IRS Newswire March 6, 2026 Issue Number: IR-2026-32 Inside This Issue IR-2026-32, March 6, 2026 Contact Your Local....

Information on Trump Accounts.

IR-2026-33: Treasury, IRS issue proposed regulations on how to open initial Trump Accounts under the One, Big, Beautiful Bill IR-2026-33: Treasury, IRS issue proposed regulations on how to open initial Trump Accounts under the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Internal Revenue Service (IRS) sent this bulletin at 03/06/2026 02:10 PM EST IRS Newswire March 6, 2026 Issue Number: IR-2026-33 Inside This Issue Treasury, IRS issue propose...