Fill in a Valid SSA SSA-44 Form

THE PRIVACY ACT

We are required by sections 1839(i) and 1860D-13 of the Social Security Act to ask you to give us the information on this form. This information is needed to determine if you qualify for a reduction in your monthly Medicare Part B and/or prescription drug coverage income-related monthly adjustment amount (IRMAA). In order for us to determine if you qualify, we need to evaluate information that you provide to us about your modified adjusted gross income. Although the responses are voluntary, if you do not provide the requested information we will not be able to consider a reduction in your IRMAA.

We rarely use the information you supply for any purpose other than for determining a potential reduction in IRMAA. However, the law sometimes requires us to give out the facts on this form without your consent. We may release this information to another Federal, State, or local government agency to assist us in determining your eligibility for a reduction in your IRMAA, if Federal law requires that we do so, or to do the research and audits needed to administer or improve our efforts for the Medicare program.

We may also use the information you provide in computer matching programs. Matching programs compare our records with records kept by other Federal, state or local government agencies. We will also compare the information you give us to your tax return records maintained by the IRS. The law allows us to do this even if you do not agree to it. Information from these matching programs can be used to establish or verify a person’s eligibility for Federally funded or administered benefit programs and for repayment of payments or delinquent debts under these programs.

Explanations about these and other reasons why information you provide us may be used or given out are available in Systems of Records Notice 60-0321 (Medicare Database File). The Notice, additional information about this form, and any other information regarding our systems and programs, are available on-line at www.socialsecurity.gov or at your local Social Security office.

Paperwork Reduction Act Statement - This information collection meets the requirements of 44 U.S.C. § 3507, as amended by section 2 of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. You do not need to answer these questions unless we display a valid Office of Management and Budget control number. We estimate that it will take about 45 minutes to read the instructions, gather the facts, and answer the questions. SEND OR BRING THE COMPLETED FORM TO

YOUR LOCAL SOCIAL SECURITY OFFICE. The office is listed under U. S. Government agencies in your telephone directory or you may call Social Security at 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778). You may send comments on our time estimate above to: SSA, 6401 Security Blvd, Baltimore, MD 21235-6401. Send only comments relating to our time estimate to this address, not the completed form.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPLETING FORM SSA-44

Medicare Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount

Life-Changing Event--Request for Use of More Recent Tax Year Information

You do not have to complete this form in order to ask that we use your information about your modified adjusted gross income for a more recent tax year. If you prefer, you may call

1-800-772-1213 and speak to a representative from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. on business days to request an appointment at one of our field offices. If you are hearing-impaired, you may call our TTY number, 1-800-325-0778.

Identifying Information

Print your full name and your own Social Security Number as they appear on your Social Security card. Your Social Security Number may be different from the number on your Medicare card.

STEP 1

You should choose only one life-changing event on the list. If you experienced more than one life-changing event, please call your local Social Security office at 1-800-772-1213 (TTY

1-800-325-0778). Fill in the date that the life-changing event occurred. The life-changing event date must be in the same year or an earlier year than the tax year you ask us to use to decide your income-related premium adjustment. For example, if we used your 2016 tax information to determine your income-related monthly adjustment amount for 2018, you can request that we use your 2017 tax information instead if you experienced a reduction in your income in 2017 due to a life-changing event that occurred in 2017 or an earlier year.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPLETING FORM SSA-44

STEP 3

Complete this step only if you expect that your MAGI for next year will be even lower and will reduce your IRMAA below what you told us in Step 2 using the table on page 1. We will record this information and use it next year to determine your Medicare income-related monthly adjustment amounts. If you do not complete Step 3, we will use the information from Step 2 next year to determine your income-related monthly adjustment amounts, unless one of the conditions described in “Important Facts” on page 8 occurs.

Tax Year

•Fill in both empty spaces in the box that says “20 _ _ ” with the year following the year you wrote in Step 2. For example, if you wrote "2020" in Step 2, then write "2021" in Step 3.

Adjusted Gross Income

•Fill in your estimated adjusted gross income for the year you wrote in the “tax year” box. Adjusted gross income is the amount you expect to enter on line 7 of IRS form 1040 when you file your tax return for that year.

Tax-exempt Interest Income

•Fill in your estimated tax-exempt interest income for the tax year you wrote in the “tax year” box. Tax-exempt interest income is the amount you expect to report on line 2a of IRS form 1040.

Filing Status

•Check the box in front of your expected tax filing status for the year you wrote in the “tax year” box.

STEP 4

Provide your required evidence of your MAGI and your life-changing event.

Modified Adjusted Gross Income Evidence

If you have filed your Federal income tax return for the year you wrote in Step 2, then you must provide us with your signed copy of your tax return or a transcript from IRS. If you provided an estimate in Step 2, you must show us a signed copy of your tax return when you file your Federal income tax return for that year.

Life-Changing Event Evidence

We must see original documents or certified copies of evidence that the life-changing event occurred. Required evidence is described on the next page. In some cases, we may be able to accept another type of evidence if you do not have a preferred document listed on the next page. Ask a Social Security representative to explain what documents can be accepted.

Read the information above the signature line, and sign the form. Fill in your phone number and current mailing address. It is very important that we have this information so that we can contact you if we have any questions about your request.

Important Facts

•When we use your estimated MAGI information to make a decision about your income-related monthly adjustment amount, we will later check with the IRS to verify your report.

•If you provide an estimate of your MAGI rather than a copy of your Federal tax return, we will ask you to provide a copy of your tax return when you file your taxes.

•If your estimate of your MAGI changes, or you amend your tax return for that reason, you will need to contact us to update our records. If you do not contact us, we may have to make corrections later including retroactive assessments or refunds.

•We will use your estimate provided in Step 2 to make a decision about the amount of your income-related monthly adjustment amounts the following year until:

•IRS sends us your tax return information for the year used in Step 2; or

•You provide a signed copy of your filed Federal income tax return or amended Federal income tax return with a different amount; or

•You provide an updated estimate.

•If we used information from IRS about a tax year when your filing status was Married filing separately, but you lived apart from your spouse at all times during that year, you should contact us at 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778) to explain that you lived apart from your spouse. Do not use this form to report this change.