SSA 44 form - how does one provide 1040 income for 2022 tax year??

[CynthiaB747404]

Anyone here familiar with the SSA 44 form?

(I am retiring 3/31, applied for SS retirement and Medicare Part B two months ago, and they are just now starting to process it and sending me a letter nearly every day now with some new question or problem.)

I got a letter yesterday stating that my AGI for 2020 was above the max and I will be charged a premium amount for that unless I called them, so I called them today (about an hour wait on the phone!). They told me that I need to submit the SSA 44 form to show my lowered income this year (they call this a "life changing event" - since I am retiring) so that I would not be charged the premium. I looked at the form and attempted to complete it but it is asking for the AGI for the tax year that income is reduced "by the life changing event". And obviously that is THIS year.

How on earth can one provide that information? I don't have a tax return for the current year and won't have until 2023. I can't see how to insert a screen shot but if you look here

https://www.ssa.gov/forms/ssa-44-ext.pdf 

you can see the form. 

Thanks for any help you can provide.

[BrianM228744]

If you need to provide your 1040 income for the 2023 tax year when completing the SSA-44 form, you will need to wait until you have filed your 2023 tax return.

Once you have filed your tax return for 2023, you can use a copy of your 1040 income tax return to provide your income information on the SSA-44 form. You will need to provide information about your current income, which may include wages, Social Security benefits, pensions, and other sources of income.

Keep in mind that you may only submit the SSA-44 form once per year, so you will want to wait until you have all the necessary information before submitting the form.
Check more info in medicare-365.com

[MichaelF625223]

My appeal using SSA-44 was approved.  My IRMAA fees for 2023 are now $0 (Zero!).  You can read my other reply for more details on how I filled-out and submitted the form using 2023 earnings estimates.

[MichaelF625223]

Same process and same issues & challenges exist as we move into 2023.  Form SSA-44 is confusing, ambiguous, and contains examples with the wrong year. 

Since I filed/submitted mine on 13-Jan-2023, I used 2023 estimated AGI for Step 2 and nothing for Step 3.  I retired in Sept-2022, but my 2022 income (including stock option sales, etc) was still quite large and resulted in the same IRMAA bracket associated with both my 2020 and my 2021 tax returns.  The real impact (to my income) from my work stoppage does not happen until tax year 2023.  There was no point in showing preliminary 2022 income since it would not reduce my IRMAA bracket.  The instructions indicate that SSA will base your 2023 IRMAA on whatever you enter in Step 2.  It mentions they will save the info in Step 3 and use it for next year's (2024) IRMAA determination.

I filled-out two SSA-44 forms that had identical numbers -- one for me and one for my spouse (since we file taxes jointly, and my retirement was the single "life event" that impacted IRMAA for both of us).  You can't submit a single SSA-44 for both both yourself & your spouse.  I provided a copy of my termination letter and retirement announcement that my employer sent.  I then filled-out a 2022 1040 Form with my 2023 estimates, and I labelled the Form as "2023 Estimated 1040" (crossing out the 2022 date).  I went to the local office in person an waited an hour before I was called to one of the windows.  I explained my approach to the agent and she had no issues with the info I provided.  She made copies, and even stamped "Received 13-Jan-2023" on the copies she returned to me.  She also gave me the name of the SSA agent that would handle my case and review both submissions (together).  I wanted to interact personally with the agent to reduce the risk of mailing them or leaving in some unsupervised drop-box.

I should know in about 3-4 weeks if my appeal / request gets approved.

[MichaelF625223]

BTW, AARP has a tax return estimator tool.  I used it to build Estimated tax-return data for 2023.  You can generate a report that shows AGI and all pertinent 1040 information.  I plan to use that estimator report as part of the documentation I'll submit to SSA.  I think it will add some credibility to any estimated return data that you submit.

[DavidM747241]

I'm in the process of doing the same.  Since 1099s are unavailable, I worked out draft 2022 tax submission, based upon my year-to-date income and clearly labeled the submission as "DRAFT". . For example, in Fidelity, I found sufficient online info under "Documents" "Tax Forms".   If married filing jointly, I believe that you need to fill out two SSA-44's to go along with your draft joint income tax submission.

In theory, that should be acceptable for the SSA-44 review.  Assuming that all goes well and they reduce your payments, SS can always check back later, when you file your final tax submission, and adjust your Medicare payments accordingly.  

I wish you luck!  I'm ready to visit my local office but, I have encountered a different issue:

The central SS recording says that we are "encouraged to make an appointment."  But, every method of contact with SS appears to be designed to thwart appointment-making.  SS websites offer absolutely no appointment help at all. Calling the local office [multiple attempts!] is patched through to the Federal SS customer service line.   The long-winded recorded Federal message usually ends with no live answer.   

When a Federal customer service rep was finally reached, I was told that she is not allowed to make appointments for the local office.   I asked to speak with someone higher up the ladder...and she said she can't do that.   

I drove to the local [Naples, FL] office and found that the line was staggeringly long; I have a disability that makes it painful to stand for long periods.  No seats remained available.  Without standing in line, I couldn't speak to a SS rep to ask about an appointment for sometime in the coming weeks.  However, the guard at the door politely informed me that, if I didn't want to wait in line, that I should try again to make an appointment online or by phone.   All seemingly  impossible chores!

CVS and Walgreens have developed patient-friendly methods to handle the massive number of appointments at Covid's peak.    Should we privatize Social Security Customer Service?

[LawrenceH723384]

I file married-jointly. So, we did two SSA-44's - one for me and one for her with the same income estimates for 2022 and 2023. I was pretty confident in the estimates for both years so I just went with that. I tried contacting SSA twice and waited on the phone for about an hour both times and then just gave up. I saw on the form where you can mail it to your local SSA office and that's what I did. I have no idea when they will get to it or when I will get a response. But that was the only option I seemed to have. I think this would be easy to implement online and it's very unfortunate this is not available to us.

[GailL1]

The IRMAA ( Income-related monthly adjustment amount ) is based on the LAST tax return which the IRS has on file for you - normally (2) years back; in this case TY 2020.  It is based on your MAGI in that year - To complete the form for your retirement reason, you will -

Step 1 is gonna be "work stoppage" and the date that you are stopping work due to retirement (date of life changing event)  

Step 2 you will complete it with 2021 TY info - MAGI

Step 3 you will complete it with ESTIMATED of 2022 amounts

[LawrenceH723384]

Hey There! I have a similar question but shifted forward one year. I retired in September 2022 and I just received my SSA statement that indicates I owe $362.60 IRMAA for Part B in 2023 based on 2021 tax information. In 2023 my income will be way lower as my wife and I both retired this year and will be living on savings next year. I'm puzzled by the instructions in SSA-44 but I think I enter TY 2022 in Step 2 and ESTIMATE what this year's return will be and then in Step 3 I enter TY 2023 and ESTIMATE that as well. Does that make sense? Also, do I really need to go to a SSA office for this? I tried to make an appointment yesterday but gave up after 50 minutes on hold. Thank you!

[MichaelF625223]

I also retired in Sept 2022.  My 2022 MAGI will still be pretty high because of 9 months of income plus stock-option sales, etc.  Like "LawrenceH", my big drop comes in 2023 (will only have SSA benefits and taxable interest & dividends).  The instructions in SSA-44 are ambiguous and confusing (SSA is horrible).  But if you read closely, it states that they are going to base 2023 IRMAA on whatever you enter in STEP 2.  STEP 3 info is used for NEXT YEAR's (2024) IRMAA calculations.  Page 7 states "We will record this information and use it NEXT year..."  If your 2023 MAGI will be lower than your 2022 MAGI, then I'm pretty sure that you want to enter 2023 tax-year estimates in STEP 2.  Again read page 6 instructions closely.  It states "Choose THIS YEAR (the premium year) if your MAGI is lower THIS year than LAST year"  This is the 2023 SSA-44 Form, therefore "THIS YEAR" and the "premium year" would be 2023.  You would only use 2022 tax return / estimates (in STEP 2) if your 2023 income won't be in a lower bracket.  This is exactly the advice provided by https://www.medicaremindset.com/irmaa  They also have a great youtube video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4mZjshRxu4

[LawrenceH723384]

Hey, just to follow up. I got confirmation back from SSA on my documented request. I used tax year 2022 MAGI estimates in Step 2 and 2023 MAGI estimates in Step 3. As I noted, tax year 2023 is where my drop in MAGI will occur. All was confirmed by the SSA letter back to me. I used minimal documentation - for me a letter from my previous employer stating my last day was in September last year. For my wife just a copy of retirement election for her pension. That's it. We did separate request letters, one for me and one for my wife. They were identical in Steps 2 and 3 because we file married - jointly in our returns. We mailed the requests to our local SSA office. We heard back from the SSA in about a month. Hope yours goes well.

[MichaelF625223]

Great news.  Thanks for the update.  Glad to hear they accepted it.  If I may ask, did you submit your SSA-44 prior to Jan-2023 using the Dec-2021 version of the form -- or did you submit in January 2023 using the Dec-2022 version of the form?

Also, did you go to the local office in person to submit everything?  I've generally had a better experience meeting someone in person at the office because you can ask questions and get immediate feedback.

I really wish that SSA provided better support and instructions.  I've had some bad experiences trying to both contact them and trying to get a straight answer.

[LawrenceH723384]

I mailed the letter on 12/2/22 using the December 2021 form which was the one available to me at the time. I tried to schedule a meeting at the local office over the phone but was not able to reach them without very long hold times. Mailing turned out to work fine. I took a chance that everything was filled out correctly. I would have preferred to meet in person as well.

[cat0w]

Do they want it for the year 2020 or 2022? You said, "I got a letter yesterday stating that my AGI for 2020".

Have you checked with your local Social Security office to see if they can help you?