I was collecting spousal benefits since age 66 until I turned 70 in June 2020 and began collecting my full Social Security benefit. My wife continued to work after age 66, retired at 68 and deferred her full benefit until she turned 70 in August 2019. We had been paying Medicare IRMAA surcharges due to our higher 2018 income. However, that income declined sharply in 2019 and after we filed our 2019 tax return in July 2020, we immediately sent a copy to Social Security with the appropriate form to have these IRMAA surcharges eliminated. Social Security sent my wife a refund of $1,232.70 for her IRMAA surcharges from January-July 2020 and removed the surcharges for the balance of the year. However, Social Security only sent me a refund of $176.10 for July 2020 (when I was collecting full benefits) and no refund at all for January-June 2020 (when I was collecting spousal benefits). Therefore, I believe I am still owed a refund of $1,056.60 from Social Security. Or is there some reason I was not allowed an IRMAA refund because I received only spousal benefits for the first six months of 2020? Anything you can do to help me sort this out would be greatly appreciated. At our age, $1,000+ is a lot to lose. Many thanks.

Hi. I assume that you and your wife's tax returns were filed as married filing jointly. In that case I agree that it sounds like your Medicare premium rate reduction should have been retroactive to January 2020, and that you'd be eligible for the applicable refund. I'm speculating that the reason you apparently didn't get the proper refund has to do with the timing of your switch from spousal to retirement benefits, and the way that Social Security's computer system is programmed. When you were awarded your own Social Security retirement benefits, Social Security would have terminated your spousal benefit entitlement and transferred your Medicare entitlement to your own account.

Bottom line, I think what's keeping you from getting the proper refund is simply a computer issue. Your only real option is to work with Social Security to try to get them straighten out the problem. Unfortunately, I'm guessing that you will need to be very patient, and you'll probably end up needing to speak with more than one employee before you find someone who will acknowledge the problem and take the necessary steps to correct it.

Best, Jerry