Hello Sir,

I'm 78 years old, and last year I purchased a different house to downsize and less stairs. I had to sell some assets from my IRA to procure the house (Approx 150K). In Dec of 2022 I received a notice form SSA stating my benefit was going down over $300 a month because of Selling my IRA assets. I think something was processed wrong with my taxes. Should I be penalized?

Hi. Nothing that you describe in your question would cause your Social Security benefit rate to be reduced. What more likely occurred is that your Medicare Part B premium rate increased due to the increase in your income resulting from the sale of assets from your IRA. If that's the case, you can ask Social Security to reevaluate whether or not your Part B premium rate is correct. But, your premium rate will likely only be reduced if the increase in your income was caused by what Social Security defines as a life changing event (LCE).

Again, though, nothing that you've described in your question sounds like it would be classified by Social Security as an LCE, but you can still ask them to make a new determination by submitting a form SSA-44 (https://www.ssa.gov/forms/ssa-44-ext.pdf). Even if your Part B premium rate does end up being higher this year due to an increase in your income level in a prior year, though, that premium rate increase isn't necessarily permanent. Premium rates are reevaluated every year based on changes in a person's income level.

Best, Jerry