SBP
SBP — the Survivor Benefit Plan — is the military retirement annuity a retiree can elect for a survivor, paying up to 55% of covered retired pay for the survivor's life. It's taxable income that counts toward IRMAA, and since 2023 it pays in full alongside DIC.
The annuity on the other side of the ledger
SBP is elected at retirement, premium-funded from retired pay, and administered by DFAS (800-321-1080 is the survivor's first call after a death). Its character is the mirror of DIC's: dependable, inflation-adjusted — and taxable, which means it sits inside MAGI and helps set the survivor's Medicare premiums two years later under single-filer thresholds. The 2023 full repeal of the SBP-DIC offset ended the era of choosing; survivors entitled to both now receive both, and the planning question shifted from "which" to "how the taxable one is timed." Remarriage before 55 suspends SBP (it can restart if that marriage ends) — a third rule alongside DIC's and TRICARE's.
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