Form SSA-44 lets you ask Social Security to figure your IRMAA from a newer, lower year of income. But it only works after certain events. Social Security's list has exactly eight, and it is exclusive: if your situation isn't one of them, the request won't qualify (POMS HI 01120.005).
The eight qualifying events
Here they are, based on the definitions in Form SSA-44 and Social Security's manual:
- Marriage: you entered into a legal marriage.
- Divorce or annulment: your legal marriage ended, and you won't file a joint return with your spouse for the year.
- Death of your spouse.
- Work stoppage: you or your spouse stopped working. Retirement, a lay-off and selling a business all count. See our guide to SSA-44 after retirement.
- Work reduction: you or your spouse cut back your hours, such as partial retirement or a switch from full-time to part-time.
- Loss of income-producing property: you or your spouse lost property that produced income, through no choice of your own.
- Loss of pension income: you or your spouse had a scheduled cessation, termination or reorganization of an employer's pension plan.
- Employer settlement payment: you or your spouse received a settlement from an employer or former employer because of its closure, bankruptcy or reorganization.
Two tests every request has to pass
1. Timing. The event must happen in the same year as, or before, the tax year you ask Social Security to use. It can be long ago. Social Security accepts an event regardless of how far in the past it happened, as long as it came before the income drop.
2. A “significant” drop. The lower income must actually lower your IRMAA tier, or end IRMAA, for that year. A drop that leaves you in the same tier doesn't count (20 CFR 418.1220). If you state under penalty of perjury that the event caused the drop, Social Security accepts that. It doesn't dig into what your income is made of.
See if an SSA-44 could lower your IRMAA. Start the free IRMAA check →
The fine print on the trickier events
Loss of income-producing property
The property has to be something that produced income, and the loss has to be beyond your and your spouse's control (POMS HI 01120.035). Examples Social Security gives:
- natural disasters, such as a flood, hurricane, tornado, fire, earthquake or volcanic eruption
- disease affecting crops, livestock or other animals
- arson
- a government buy-out of the property under eminent domain
- theft, including embezzlement, extortion, robbery, fraud and investment fraud
The form also mentions loss of real property in a Presidentially or Gubernatorially declared disaster area. It does not cover property you sold, gave away, donated or transferred. It also doesn't cover ordinary investment losses, a drop in dividends (unless caused by criminal theft), or property that didn't produce income.
Loss of pension income
This one is narrow. Social Security's manual (POMS HI 01120.040) requires both of these:
- the pension is a traditional defined benefit plan or a cash balance plan, and
- the loss comes from a plan failure or termination (for example, through bankruptcy restructuring), or from a scheduled end you chose in the past. Its example: someone who picked a 20-year annuity instead of a lifetime pension when they retired in 1986.
The manual doesn't list 401(k) or IRA accounts under this event.
Employer settlement payment
The settlement must come from the employer's closure, bankruptcy or reorganization (POMS HI 01120.043). A settlement for another reason doesn't fit this event.
Marriage, divorce and death of a spouse
These can change your filing status as well as your income. The joint-return limits are double the single ones, except at the top tier. The effect on your income may also be delayed (POMS HI 01120.015).
What doesn't count
Social Security names these as not qualifying:
- One-time income spikes: capital gains from selling property, lottery winnings, casino winnings, an IRA conversion, or cashing bonds
- Ordinary investment changes: a normal loss of dividend income, or losses from the ordinary risk of investing
- Higher costs: higher medical or living expenses, or anything else that affects your expenses but not your income
- Lost support payments: loss of child support or alimony
- Choosing to sell: a voluntary sale of income-producing property
Your request covers only you
A life-changing event request applies only to the person who reports it. If your spouse also pays IRMAA and the same event lowered their income, they have to contact Social Security on their own.
Proof for each event
Social Security must see original documents or certified copies. If you don't have the preferred document, the form says to ask a representative what else they can accept.
| Event | What Form SSA-44 asks for |
|---|---|
| Marriage | An original marriage certificate, or a certified copy of the public record of marriage |
| Divorce or annulment | A certified copy of the divorce or annulment decree |
| Death of spouse | A certified copy of the death certificate, the public record of death, or a coroner's certificate |
| Work stoppage or reduction | An original signed statement from your employer, copies of pay stubs, or original or certified papers showing a business transfer. Without these, your signed statement on the form under penalty of perjury. |
| Loss of income-producing property | An original insurance adjuster's statement of loss, or a state or federal government letter about the uncompensated loss. For investment fraud, proof of a conviction too. |
| Loss of pension income | A letter or statement from your pension fund administrator explaining the reduction or end of benefits |
| Employer settlement payment | A letter from the employer stating the settlement terms from the bankruptcy court and how they affect you or your spouse |
You'll also need proof of your income for the newer year: a signed tax return or IRS transcript, or an estimate if you haven't filed yet.
Example: when an event does, and doesn't, help
You and your spouse filed jointly with 2024 MAGI of $230,000. That's just over the $218,000 joint limit, so you pay $284.10 for Part B and $14.50 for Part D in 2026. Your spouse died in 2025. For 2026 you expect to file as single.
- If your 2026 MAGI will be about $120,000, the single table also puts you at $284.10 and $14.50. The event is real, but your tier doesn't change, so it isn't a significant reduction.
- If it will be about $100,000, you're under the $109,000 single limit. You'd pay the standard $202.90 and no Part D add-on, which saves $95.70 a month, or $1,148.40 a year.
Next steps: read the SSA-44 step-by-step instructions, or check your own event with the free IRMAA and SSA-44 check.