Social Security/IRMAA/Leesburg office
 

I read with interest the thread about IRMAA only to find myself in an IRMAA predicament. Wondering if anyone else has experienced a problem with SSA that I shall describe. We file our taxes jointly. This week the Social Security Adm. (SSA) letter arrived with benefits and IRMAA calculations. Mine appeared accurate, based on our 2022 return. My husband’s letter, though indicated his IRMAA was calculated on the 2021 tax year whereas mine was calculated on 2022. I immediately called SSA (over 80-minute wait) only to encounter a surly woman who told me it wasn’t their fault, that IRS had sent the wrong data. She said to file Form 44 which is only intended for a change of life event. I called the Leesburg field office and was told to do the same thing. I filled out the form as best I could and sent it with copies of the tax return and the correct IRMAA info for me to the Leesburg field office.

Sorry to read that this happened to you and happened to anyone again. Did you ask why the difference in years in case that there was a legitimate reason?

The fact that the IRS makes the calculations for you and then disclaims all responsibility for the calculation is an example of the US turning into a third world country. And then makes you provide the correct calculation is just so sad for us.

good luck with the govt

Thanks for your response. Yes I did ask why and the response was basically "Not our fault. We take what IRS sends us." I can't fathom why they would use 2 different years.

I have visited the Leesburg office, also with IRMMA issues. They were very professional and helpful.

Good to know. Hoping they respond to my letter.

It does appear that it is an IRS issue. I am not sure from your post if you filed jointly or separately. Did your husband file a return for 2022? If so, was it processed by the IRS. I remember reading that at one time they had many unprocessed returns.

Read the 3rd sentence of her post.

Did you walk in or make an appointment?

A couple off online resources in case not already found:

Request to lower an Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount (IRMAA) | SSA

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

No worries. They will eventually act on your Form 44. If they wind up charging IRMAA penalties before they act on your form, you will eventually get the monies back. It appears you have done the correct thing.

The first is an IRMAA predetermination notice. It will encourage you to contact the Social Security Administration within 10 days if you believe the IRMAA information is incorrect.

If you don’t respond, you’ll receive a second letter — known as an IRMAA initial determination notice — 20 days or more after the first letter.
These notices contain appeal rights and encourage you to contact the Social Security Administration if:
You experienced a life changing event that significantly reduced your modified adjusted gross income.
You filed an amended tax return for the year used to calculate your IRMAA, and the IRS accepted it.
Social Security used tax return information from three years prior instead of two years prior.
There was an error in the information provided by the IRS, and you can supply proof from the IRS that the mistake was corrected.

Thanks. Fingers crossed it gets fixed without a lot of trauma. Our IRS refund came in November. There were no changes in what we filed and no explanation. I had contacted Webster's office to see if they could get it moving.

Walked in.

I tried to make an appointment yesterday but was told they only do walk-in’s

Social Security IRMMA
 

I too had a problem with SSA and IRMAA. I am 65 and my husband and I file jointly. When I started getting Social Security the SSA had me paying $64.00 more for my medical benefits. I was told to submit the SS-44 form. My husband retired in 2021 and Social security was using his gross pay to calculate my Medicare payment. After 3 trips to Leesburg trying to get my payment down I received a call from a manager at Leesburg SS office stating that my due diligence had paid off. Someone with intelligence looked at the SS-44 form and recalculated my Medicare payment and they removed the $64.00. Oh yeah, send our congressman a complaint with the SSA and he will get the ball rolling on fixing your problem with SSA. Good luck. The congressman helped solve my problem.

If you are a Government employee you are allowed to be as nasty as you want. In fact it is a job requirement.

Don't expect anything remotely resembling "customer service" from the Social Security administration. They're bureaucrats, working in a pretty thankless job where people skills is not really a prime job requirement. They're also the only game in town, which means they have no competition, which means...

A possible avenue of remedy are third-party organizations. Back in Minnesota there was the "Senior LINKage Line", a telephone service for seniors who would offer advice, and sometimes interventions, on behalf of seniors who were experiencing problems with Social Security. I'm pretty sure other states have similar services. It was designed for Seniors but it didn't take long for the Case Managers to pick up on their service and call them whenever an impasse developed with the Social Security folks. They were good sports about it all: they didn't mind helping us out, and we were in turn grateful to them.

I don't know if Florida has such a service or what it would be called. But the odds are pretty good that it does.

Read the post before commenting? What a novel concept!

In 2021 or 2022 did you perhaps file separately? Maybe that is what triggered the difference.

Best to make appointment. I had to there 8 years ago and line was out the door. I doubt it has gotten any better?

Contact Congressman Daniel Webster's office. You can do it through this link. They are happy to help. United States Congressman Daniel Webster

No we have filed jointly all of our married life - many years!

What is IRMAA?

Google is your friend.

Been there done that, took about 3 weeks the fixed it. To see thought fixes implemented? way different story that would be the next battle