A 73-year-old divides the prior year-end balance by the 2026 Uniform Lifetime factor of 26.5, so with $60,000 of other income the required distribution reaches the first IRMAA threshold of $109,000 once the traditional IRA passes $1,298,500. Below that the RMD keeps modified adjusted gross income at or under the threshold; above it, Medicare adds $1,148 per person two years later. Other income moves the answer sharply — at $80,000 the trigger balance falls to $768,500.
Trigger balance by other income (2026, age 73)
| Filing status | Other income | First IRMAA threshold | RMD room under the threshold | Trigger balance at age 73 | Added per person once crossed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single | $40,000 | $109,000 | $69,000 | $1,828,500 | $1,148 |
| Single | $60,000 | $109,000 | $49,000 | $1,298,500 | $1,148 |
| Single | $80,000 | $109,000 | $29,000 | $768,500 | $1,148 |
| Married filing jointly | $100,000 | $218,000 | $118,000 | $3,127,000 | $1,148 |
| Married filing jointly | $140,000 | $218,000 | $78,000 | $2,067,000 | $1,148 |
Read it as an inverse RMD: the room left under the threshold is the threshold minus your other income, and the balance that produces exactly that distribution is the room multiplied by the age-73 divisor of 26.5. A balance exactly at the trigger leaves modified adjusted gross income sitting on the threshold, which stays in the standard tier — the surcharge starts one dollar above it.
Two things make the real threshold arrive sooner than the table suggests. The divisor shrinks every year, so the same balance throws off a larger distribution at 75 and 80 than at 73. And Medicare reads the return from two years earlier, so the distribution taken in 2026 sets the 2028 premium — the years to act on it are the ones before required distributions begin.
Methodology
Divisor from the 2026 IRS Uniform Lifetime Table III (RMD_TABLE), thresholds from the 2026 CMS tier table (IRMAA_TIERS), and the dollar cost from annualSurcharge() in QuantCalc's parity-tested IRMAA module. See the 2026 RMD table dataset, the 2026 IRMAA bracket dataset, and the IRMAA cliff study.
Every figure on this page is computed at build time from QuantCalc's parity-tested calculation modules or a committed dataset — never hand-entered. Reference for research and planning only; not tax, legal, or investment advice.
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Changelog
- v2026.1 — first publication. Figures computed from the 2026 tax-constants mirror and committed datasets.
Cite this dataset
QuantCalc Research (2026). At what IRA balance does a 73-year-old's RMD trigger IRMAA in 2026?. https://quantcalc.app/answers/what-ira-balance-makes-rmd-trigger-irmaa/ (accessed <date>).
BibTeX
@misc{quantcalc2026atwhatirabalancedoesa73yearoldsrmdtrigge,
title = {At what IRA balance does a 73-year-old's RMD trigger IRMAA in 2026?},
author = {{QuantCalc Research}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://quantcalc.app/answers/what-ira-balance-makes-rmd-trigger-irmaa/},
note = {Accessed <date>}
}Machine-readable citation metadata (schema.org identifier and citation fields) is embedded in this page's JSON-LD, at the stable identifier https://quantcalc.app/answers/what-ira-balance-makes-rmd-trigger-irmaa/.