The widow's penalty — plan while it's cheap

When a spouse dies, the survivor keeps most of the income but loses the joint brackets: single filing compresses every threshold, the §86 Social Security tiers and IRMAA cliffs are halved, and one benefit stops. /v1/tax/survivor-transition prices the whole transition — and what acting early (a Roth conversion while still MFJ) is worth.

1 · Make the call

A retired couple: $90,000 of ordinary income, $15,000 qualified, Social Security of $36,000 and $20,000. What happens to the survivor — and what is a $50,000 Roth conversion worth if done now, while they still file jointly?

curl -X POST https://api.numeratica.com/v1/tax/survivor-transition \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer nmr_sk_test_xxx" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "tax_year": 2026,
    "ordinary_income": 90000,
    "qualified_income": 15000,
    "social_security_higher": 36000,
    "social_security_lower": 20000,
    "conversion_amount": 50000
  }'

2 · The response

{
  "result_id": "survtrans_32a7461cc2afca8e",
  "engine_version": "survivor-transition-1.0.0",
  "result": {
    "joint":    { "filing_status": "mfj",    "agi": 152600, "taxable_ss": 47600,
                  "income_tax": 14862, "irmaa": 0,      "total_cost": 14862 },
    "survivor": { "filing_status": "single", "agi": 135600, "taxable_ss": 30600,
                  "income_tax": 19952, "irmaa": 1148.40, "total_cost": 21100.40 },
    "annual_widow_penalty": 6238.40,
    "income_lost": 20000,
    "conversion": {
      "amount": 50000,
      "cost_now_mfj": 11000,          /* convert while filing jointly */
      "cost_as_survivor": 15447.60,   /* the same conversion, single */
      "saving": 4447.60
    }
  },
  "disclaimer": "Calculation engine output for informational purposes only; not tax or financial advice."
}

The survivor has $20,000 less income and pays $6,238 more per year — the compressed single brackets add $5,090 of income tax and the halved IRMAA thresholds add a $1,148 Medicare surcharge the couple never paid. Converting $50,000 to Roth while still MFJ costs $11,000; the same conversion as a survivor costs $15,448 — acting early saves $4,448 per $50k converted.

3 · Render it

A before/after card — the one-look version of the conversation.

<div style="font-family:-apple-system,Segoe UI,Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#1a2230;max-width:600px">
  <div style="font-size:14px;color:#5b6675;margin-bottom:8px">Same household, one spouse gone (2026)</div>
  <div style="display:grid;grid-template-columns:1fr 1fr;gap:10px">
    <div style="border:1px solid #e6e9ef;border-radius:10px;padding:12px">
      <div style="font-size:12px;color:#5b6675">Married filing jointly</div>
      <div style="font-size:22px;font-weight:700">$14,862<span style="font-size:12px;font-weight:400;color:#5b6675">/yr tax</span></div>
      <div style="font-size:12px;color:#5b6675;margin-top:4px">AGI $152,600 · no IRMAA</div>
    </div>
    <div style="border:2px solid #dc2626;border-radius:10px;padding:12px">
      <div style="font-size:12px;color:#dc2626;font-weight:600">Survivor, filing single</div>
      <div style="font-size:22px;font-weight:700">$21,100<span style="font-size:12px;font-weight:400;color:#5b6675">/yr tax + IRMAA</span></div>
      <div style="font-size:12px;color:#5b6675;margin-top:4px">on $20,000 <em>less</em> income · IRMAA $1,148</div>
    </div>
  </div>
  <div style="margin-top:10px;border:1px solid #e6e9ef;border-radius:10px;padding:12px;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:baseline">
    <div><strong>The widow's penalty</strong><span style="color:#5b6675;font-size:13px"> · every year</span></div>
    <div style="font-size:24px;font-weight:700;color:#dc2626">+$6,238</div>
  </div>
  <div style="margin-top:10px;border:1px solid #16a34a;background:#f0fdf4;border-radius:10px;padding:12px">
    <div style="font-size:12px;color:#16a34a;font-weight:600">Act while still MFJ</div>
    <div style="font-size:14px;margin-top:2px">A $50,000 Roth conversion now costs $11,000 vs $15,448 later — <strong>saves $4,448</strong></div>
  </div>
  <div style="color:#5b6675;font-size:12px;margin-top:6px">result_id survtrans_32a7461cc2afca8e · not tax advice</div>
</div>

Related: the Roth conversion optimizer for sizing the multi-year plan, the IRMAA bracket planner for the halved cliffs, and protecting your household for the insurance side of the same event. While both spouses are living, the filing question itself — MFJ vs MFS, §63(c)(6)-aware — is /v1/tax/filing-status.

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