Suze Orman Says a $400,000 Rental Gain Can Trigger a $10,600 Medicare Bill and the Closing Date Is the Only Thing You Control
Key takeaways
- She and her husband are selling a rental property and know they will owe capital gains tax on the appreciation.
- Suze s answer on the September 26 episode was direct.
- IRMAA stands for Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount.
Suze Orman Says a $400,000 Rental Gain Can Trigger a $10,600 Medicare Bill and the Closing Date Is the Only Thing You Control Bear Fotos / Shutterstock.com Danielle Liverance Wed, June 10, 2026 at 8:05 PM GMT+7 5 min read Pat called into Suze Orman s Women & Money podcast last fall with a problem most landlords never see coming. She and her husband are selling a rental property and know they will owe capital gains tax on the appreciation. The gut punch came from a separate question: does the sale lock them into two years of higher Medicare premiums under IRMAA, or can they limit the surcharge to a single year?
Suze s answer on the September 26 episode was direct. The two-year IRMAA look-back is federal law. You cannot negotiate it down to one year. But the actual damage depends entirely on how the closing is structured, and that is where most sellers cost themselves real money without realizing it.
IRMAA stands for Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount. It is the surcharge Medicare tacks onto Part B and Part D premiums when your modified adjusted gross income crosses certain thresholds. The mechanic that catches sellers off guard: Medicare does not look at this year s income. It looks at your tax return from two years ago.