Good morning, I have been receiving social security for over 20 years and in 2018, my husband passed away. The following year, I took distributions from his IRA and other accounts...in lump sums, rather than spousal (over time). My income shot up to over $200k and I just received a letter from SS telling me that my benefits are going down by $305 per month.
Is this something that can be fixed, either this year or in subsequent years? I'm an 85 yr old widow.

Hi,

I'm sorry for your loss.

Your income wouldn't affect your actual Social Security benefit rate, so I'm assuming that the reason that your Social Security payment amount is being reduced is because of an increase in your Part B Medicare premium rate. Part B premium rates are variable depending on a person's income, so the higher income reported on your previous tax return is likely responsible for the reduction in your net payment amount.

It sounds like the income in your taxable income was a one-time event resulting from a life changing event (LCE), that being the death of your spouse (https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0601120005). I can't be sure without more details, but it sounds like you can probably ask Social Security to re-evaluate your case to see if you qualify for a lower Part B premium. You should be able to contact Social Security and ask them to use a more recent year's tax return on which to base your Part B premiums.

Best, Jerry