A worked example
What the tax code does to whoever is left
Ellen and Ray, both 72, retired with $1,800,000 in pre-tax accounts, $150,000 in Roth accounts, and a $400,000 brokerage account, spending $130,000 a year. Their combined Social Security is $70,000; if one of them dies, the survivor keeps the larger check — $44,000 — and the other stops.
“If one of us outlives the other by a decade, what does that do to the taxes on the same money?”
What the projection shows
Two runs of an identical plan — the same accounts, the same required withdrawals — differing only in who the tax return belongs to. The year of the death is still a joint return; from the year after it the survivor files as single, which halves the standard deduction and every bracket, and moves the Medicare (IRMAA) thresholds down with them. The compare view puts a year beside its twin: taxable income that is *lower*, tax on it that is higher, and surcharge years the couple never had. Nothing here is a recommendation, and none of it argues for a decision — it prices a thing that happens to most married households, so it is in the plan rather than a surprise for whoever is left.
What the projection also found
Nothing here was left blank. These follow from the figures above, under the assumptions this example states.
- Social Security falls to $57,732 from $91,846, and the federal bill rises from $17,157 to $22,725 anyway — less money, more tax, on brackets half as wide.
The planner arrives with this household already filled in. Change anything — the balances, the ages, the assumptions — and run it as yourself.
A projection under stated assumptions, not financial or tax advice.