You manage your own retirement money.
You shouldn't have to guess where the cliffs are.
Free to use. No card. No account required.
You already manage the withdrawals, the conversions, and the account timing yourself. What you're managing against is seven separate, uncoordinated tripwires from three different federal agencies — and the real danger was never the tax bracket. It's the cliff nobody warned you about.
Roth conversion
$0
Base MAGI $46,000
Taxable income $-15,850 · threshold $98,900
Limited by OBBBA Senior Deduction
Scroll down to explore — or continue with these numbers
CMS Fact Sheet: 2026 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles · IRC § 1411(a)(1); IRC § 1411(c); Treas. Reg. § 1.1411-2(b)(1); IRS Form 8960 Instructions (2026) · IRC § 151(d)(5), added by One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), Public Law 119-21, Section 70103, signed July 4, 2025. IRS administrative guidance: IR-2026-28 (March 2, 2026); Schedule 1-A (Form 1040), Part V.
One dollar over the line.
$12,047 gone.
$79,999
$80,001
The pattern
If this feels familiar, it's because you're already living with it. You've already built the spreadsheet nobody else has — the one that tracks your MAGI to the penny, updated by hand two or three times a month, checked against IRS tables you read yourself. You know the ACA subsidy cliff is real — $100 of extra income and you can lose thousands in subsidies, not gradually, all at once, the way the example above shows.
You've heard about IRMAA's two-year lookback, but you're not fully sure how this year's Roth conversion will hit you in 2028 — and a decision that's long done and can't be undone shouldn't come back as a surprise letter about a surcharge you didn't see coming. You've run TurboTax or Dinkytown two or three times this year just to sanity check where you actually stand.
Current tools fail you
Boldin, Right Capital, and the free calculators floating around Reddit weren't built for this. They don't know you already did four Roth conversions this year, and they hand you a confident-looking number with no way to check the math — a tool that guesses and hides the guess is worse than no tool at all.
It gets worse every year
All seven thresholds get recalculated annually, and none of them are cross-referenced with each other. If you're tracking this by hand, you're rebuilding the model every single year — and one missed update anywhere in the chain can put you over a line you didn't know moved.
There are no do-overs
A Roth conversion sized wrong doesn't just cost you this year — it's permanent, since recharacterization was eliminated in 2017. Miss the IRMAA lookback and you're paying a surcharge for a decision you made two years earlier and probably don't remember making.
This isn't a rounding error. The $12,047 example above isn't an edge case — it's the normal shape of these thresholds, and it doesn't show up on a standard tax bracket chart. You shouldn't need to reverse-engineer TurboTax to find out if you're about to lose your ACA subsidy.
The ACA subsidy cliff is one of seven. CliffEdge maps all seven at once, in real time.
Cliff proximity
MAGI $138,000 MFJ · 2026
A $12,000 Roth conversion would push OBBBA Senior Deduction to TRIGGERED. CliffEdge shows exactly where the line is before you move.
Real-time headroom
Every cliff, measured the moment you move.
Enter your income sources once — it takes about two minutes and never leaves your browser. Then move the slider to model a Roth conversion or withdrawal and watch all seven cliffs update live, with the binding constraint named for you. CliffEdge models all seven thresholds against your actual current-year income, not a generic assumption.
- Five gauges, one MAGI — see safe, approaching, and crossed at a glance.
- Color and dollars always agree: a red bar carries a red number.
- No recommendation — just the boundary, so the decision stays yours.
- State income tax estimates included for CA, NY, NJ, IL, and PA.
Show your work
Open any number. Read the whole derivation.
Every number expands into a worksheet citing the exact IRS or CMS source, so the decision stays yours because you verified it yourself — not because you took our word for it. This is the part most calculators skip entirely.
- Step-by-step math, never a black box.
- Every threshold cites its primary IRS or CMS source.
- Full three-year IRMAA lookback, so you see the consequence before you make the call.
- Built to be printed and handed to a client.
Worksheet — IRMAA MAGI & headroom
Source: CMS.gov IRMAA 2026 · verified 2026-06-17
IRS Rev. Proc.
Exact conversion tax view
Know the exact tax cost before you convert.
Most retirees estimate their Roth conversion tax by opening last year's TurboTax, saving a dummy copy, and manually editing the numbers. CliffEdge replaces that workaround with a slider that shows your max safe conversion — the largest amount before you cross a cliff, and which specific cliff it is — so you stop guessing and start converting the exact amount that keeps you clear.
Every line cites its source. Expand any row to read the full derivation — including the LTCG stacking effect, which quietly taxes your dividends at 15% instead of 0% once a conversion crosses the threshold.
- Base tax vs. conversion delta — separated, never blended.
- LTCG stacking effect flagged when your conversion triggers it.
- State income tax estimate on the same card (CA, NY, NJ, IL, PA).
- Expand any line for the full show-your-work derivation.
Numbers update in real time as you adjust the conversion slider.
Tax on this conversion
Converting $40,000 adds $8,800 in federal tax this year.
Incremental federal tax attributable to the Roth conversion.
Computed by running the full tax calculation with and without the conversion amount and taking the difference.
Accounts for bracket-straddling: each portion taxed at its correct rate.
irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-25-33.pdf · Verified 2026-01-01
Full source citations in Individual plan →
Federal cliffs only · state tax estimate · numbers update in real time
Source: IRS Rev Proc 2025-33 · Verified 2026-01-01
Visual clarity
See your cliffs. See what fills your MAGI.
The terrain map shows exactly how far each edge is from your current income. The composition bar shows which sources are building toward your MAGI — and how much headroom remains before the nearest cliff triggers.
Click any edge for the full breakdown
See a live example first
Nine scenarios. Loaded in one click.
Nine pre-built scenario links show you exactly how the ACA cliff, the IRMAA lookback, and the tax torpedo play out with real numbers, before you touch your own. Every URL pre-fills all calculator fields and lands exactly at the threshold.
The Cliff Cluster
“One Roth conversion. Four cliffs. Here's what it actually costs.”
Best demo for advisors and power users — all four gauges fire simultaneously.
Cliff proximity
IRMAA MAGI ~$177K · MFJ
Illustrative — based on $225K MAGI for a MFJ couple, one on Medicare, $30K Roth conversion.
The IRMAA Surprise
A $1 Roth conversion mistake costs a couple $2,000/year
The IRMAA Lookback Trap
You converted in 2024. Medicare bills you in 2026.
The ACA Cliff
The $600 decision that costs FIRE retirees $12,000/year
The Tax Torpedo
Why retirees in this income range have a higher tax rate than millionaires
The LTCG Stacking Trap
Your Roth conversion isn't free if you have a taxable brokerage account
The NIIT Threshold
The surtax most pre-retirees don't know exists until they cross it
The OBBBA Phase-Out
The new 2025 deduction almost nobody knows is already phasing out for you
The Widow Penalty
Why widows pay thousands more in taxes on the exact same income
Seven thresholds. Three federal agencies. None of them reference each other.
Premium tax credits vanish entirely the dollar you cross 400% of the federal poverty line. There is no phase-out — it is a step function. One dollar triggers the full loss.
Learn more →Threshold
$84,600 MFJ · $62,600 single
Annual cost
Up to $12,000/yr
Medicare Part B and D premiums step up across six tiers, applied for the entire following year. The kicker: IRMAA is based on your income from two years prior, so a conversion today affects premiums in year three.
Learn more →Threshold
$228,000 MFJ · $114,000 single
Annual cost
Up to $11,000/yr per couple
As provisional income rises, each dollar of new income can make 85 cents of Social Security newly taxable. In this range, effective marginal rates routinely exceed the stated bracket rate.
Learn more →Threshold
$44,000 MFJ · $34,000 single (provisional income)
Annual cost
SS goes from 0% to 85% taxable
The 2025 "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" added a $6,000 senior deduction, but it phases out completely across a $100,000 band. At the top of the band, you lose $60 of deduction for every $1,000 of income.
Learn more →Threshold
$150,000 MFJ · $75,000 single
Annual cost
$6,000 deduction erodes to zero
The year after a spouse dies, all tax brackets, standard deductions, and IRMAA thresholds reset to single-filer amounts — sometimes doubling effective rates. No other calculator models this.
Learn more →Threshold
Brackets compress to single-filer levels
Annual cost
$5,000–$15,000+/yr tax increase
The net investment income tax applies to dividends, interest, capital gains, and rental income once MAGI clears the threshold. It layers on top of ordinary income tax with no phase-out.
Learn more →Threshold
$250,000 MFJ · $200,000 single
Annual cost
3.8% on net investment income
When ordinary income pushes taxable income above the 0% capital-gains ceiling, qualified dividends and long-term gains that were taxed at 0% get stacked into the 15% bracket — an effective marginal rate near 27% on each newly-stacked dollar.
Learn more →Threshold
$98,900 MFJ · $49,450 single (taxable income)
Annual cost
Gains jump from 0% to 15%
No black boxes. Every formula. Every step.
Every number in CliffEdge comes with a plain-English derivation sourced directly from IRS, CMS, and HHS publications. Every number comes with a citation, not just a confidence level — you see the formula, not just the result, so the decision stays yours because you verified it yourself.
The IRMAA lookback is one of the most misunderstood rules in retirement planning. Your 2026 Medicare premium is determined by your 2024 income — a connection that blindsides thousands of retirees every year. CliffEdge makes it visible.
No other retirement calculator publishes its formulas.
IRMAA lookback — Roth conversion impact
SCENARIO
STEP 1 — Assemble 2024 IRMAA MAGI
STEP 2 — Compare to 2026 bracket table
SOURCE
Built for retirees who run their own numbers, not for people who want someone else to tell them what to do.
You manage your own IRAs, run your own Roth conversions, and read the actual IRS publication instead of taking someone's word for it.
You want to know, to the penny, exactly how much room you have before a threshold hits — not a recommendation, the truth.
You've been surprised by a tax bill once. You don't intend for that to happen again.
You don't need an advisor to tell you what to do. You need a tool that shows you where the lines are.
Your preference
Dark mode. Light mode. Your call.
CliffEdge ships with both themes. Hover to compare — the math, the gauges, and every step look sharp either way.
Is CliffEdge for you?
It takes 60 seconds to find out.
This tool is built for you if...
You are 55–70, approaching or in retirement, with $500K or more in tax-deferred accounts, and you are actively thinking about Roth conversions, withdrawals, or Medicare enrollment.
You are a FIRE early retiree, under 65, managing your income to stay near ACA subsidy thresholds — and one bad year could cost you $10,000+ in lost premium credits.
You know what IRMAA is and you have either hit a surcharge tier already, or you are trying not to.
You do your own taxes, read IRS publications, and would rather see the formula than trust a number you cannot verify.
You are a flat-fee advisor or CPA who needs to show a client exactly where the cliffs are, with math you can stand behind.
This tool is probably not for you if...
You are still in the accumulation phase — contributing to a 401(k), growing a portfolio, decades from retirement. CliffEdge models drawdown cliffs, not accumulation strategy.
You want a tool that tells you exactly how much to convert. CliffEdge shows boundaries; it does not make recommendations. That is a deliberate product decision, not a missing feature.
You need a full retirement plan with Social Security timing, estate planning, and Monte Carlo projections. Boldin and Pralana do that. CliffEdge does one thing: shows you exactly how much MAGI headroom you have before each cliff.
How do I know the numbers are current?
Every threshold on screen shows the date it was last verified and a direct link to the source — the CMS news release, the IRS Rev. Proc., or the HHS FPL table. IRMAA brackets are updated within 48 hours of the annual CMS release each November. When you open the "Show Your Work" panel on any cliff, you see the exact document that produced that number.
Do I need an account?
No. The calculator and all seven cliff gauges run entirely in your browser — no account required. Your income numbers stay in your browser and are never sent to our servers. Shared Links encode your inputs in the URL itself, which browsers don't transmit to any server either. An optional free account stores only your email address and a user ID, used to send annual tax-bracket update notices (IRMAA in November, IRS in January). Saving your scenarios to your account and accessing them across devices is an Individual plan feature. The math is always local; the account is a mailbox and a key, nothing more.
How is this different from other retirement tax tools?
CliffEdge cites a primary IRS or CMS source for every number it shows, and the math is open line by line in the "Show Your Work" panel. Community-built tools typically operate under "no warranty, use at your own risk" — which is fine, but not acceptable when a single wrong bracket could cost you $3,000 in avoidable IRMAA surcharges. CliffEdge also runs the full three-year IRMAA lookback and covers all seven cliffs simultaneously, including LTCG stacking and the Widow Penalty, which most tools do not.
Does it give me a recommended conversion amount?
No — and that is intentional. No tool can know your future tax rates, your lifespan, your spending trajectory, or what Congress will do in 2030. Any tool that confidently recommends "$87,400 this year" is hiding the assumptions that produced that number. We won't tell you how much to convert. That's not a missing feature, it's the point: you make the call, we just show you exactly where the lines are.
Pricing
Current numbers. Every year.
IRMAA brackets change every November when CMS publishes new data. ACA FPL thresholds update every January. The OBBBA senior deduction phases out on a schedule that may change legislatively. CliffEdge updates every data table within 48 hours of each CMS or IRS release — your subscription keeps you on current numbers, not last year's. A one-time tool that hasn't updated since November is showing you stale IRMAA brackets.
Free
No credit card required
- All six cliffs plus the Widow Penalty simulator (ACA, IRMAA, NIIT, OBBBA, Tax Torpedo, LTCG Stacking)
- Full IRMAA tier staircase + three-year lookback (2024 / 2025 / 2026)
- Both MAGIs computed separately, with Show Your Work citations on every number
- Real-time Roth conversion slider + max safe conversion
- Shareable scenario links
The full calculator, free. No account, no card, and no data ever leaves your browser.
Individual
Everything in Free, plus:
- Save your scenarios to your account (use CliffEdge across devices)
- RMD forward projection — see your age-73 forced income and IRMAA impact, years ahead
- Annual tax-data update emails — IRMAA in November, IRS in January, the moment they publish
Transparency
When you create an account, here's exactly what we store.
Paid features are unlocked with a $79/yr Individual subscription. Here's what signing up and subscribing actually touches
Stored on our servers
Your email address and subscription status.
That's it. No income figures, no tax data, no conversion amounts. Payment itself is handled directly by Stripe — we never see or store your card details.
Where calculations run
Your browser, always.
All cliff math runs locally in JavaScript. Your numbers are never transmitted to our servers — not during calculation, not when saving, not when you create a Shared Link.
Why an account exists
Access, not data collection.
The account and subscription gate paid features. Your $79/yr payment goes through Stripe; the account itself still holds nothing but your email and subscription status.
Run the numbers before you run the conversion.
Takes about two minutes. Enter your income sources, move the slider, see all seven thresholds update live. No account required. Size your next conversion knowing the exact dollar amount that keeps you clear of every threshold, not just the one you happened to be watching.
CliffEdge helps you do that.