Your current household income
Enter your projected 2026 numbers. The calculator will show your current MFJ math, then re-run everything as if one spouse had passed away — same RMDs, same income sources, but now at single-filer rates.
Higher-earning Spouse
Other Spouse
What changes when one spouse passes
Choose which spouse you want to model passing first (usually the higher earner — that's the more painful scenario), and how pensions handle survivors.
Tax & deduction assumptions
Home sale tax bomb
If the surviving spouse plans to sell the family home, the capital-gains exclusion drops from $500,000 (MFJ) to $250,000 (single) — unless they sell within 2 years of the deceased spouse's death (then they keep the $500k exclusion as a "qualifying widow(er)").
What you're looking at, in plain English
The number above is how much more federal tax the surviving spouse will pay each year after the first death — without any change in lifestyle or how much money the household has.
The penalty nobody warns retirees about
While both spouses are alive, you file as Married Filing Jointly (MFJ) — wider tax brackets, bigger standard deduction. When one spouse dies, the survivor gets one transition year and then has to file as Single for the rest of their life.
The math, simply
Single brackets are roughly half as wide as MFJ brackets, and the standard deduction is also smaller. So the same household income gets taxed at higher rates. The survivor's lifestyle barely changes — but the tax bill jumps, often by $5,000–$15,000 a year.
You also lose…
- One Social Security check. The survivor keeps the larger of the two and loses the smaller — typically $1,500–$2,500 a month gone.
- Half the IRMAA tiers. The MFJ IRMAA threshold is $212k; single is $106k. The same MAGI can push the survivor into a Medicare surcharge that didn't apply before.
How to soften the blow
- Roth conversions while you're both alive — move money out of taxable accounts before the survivor gets locked into the narrower single brackets.
- Survivor benefit planning — the higher earner delaying SS to 70 means the survivor inherits the maximum benefit.
- Life insurance — pays out tax-free to replace the lost SS check.
Want this walked through with you?
This tool runs the math. Hans walks through how the publicly available IRS, SSA, and Medicare rules apply to your specific household. Pure math education — not financial advice, no products sold.
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