MW The IRS just released its 2026 tax brackets despite the government shutdown. Find out where you fit in.

Andrew Keshner

The standard deduction is rising in the wake of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Here's the amount.

The IRS may have furloughed roughly half its staff, but it still released important 2026 tax-planning numbers Thursday.

Americans are getting an important first look at their tax situation for next year, as President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act continues to remake the tax code.

Despite its partial closure amid the government shutdown, the Internal Revenue Service on Thursday released details of its 2026 tax brackets and the dollar value of the standard deduction.

The new income ranges for the tax brackets and the value of the widely used standard deduction reflect a mix of new changes from the Trump tax bill and a continuance of ongoing tax rules.

The taxable-income ranges for the seven tax brackets are adjusted yearly for inflation, as are roughly 60 parts of the federal tax code. For 2026, the brackets were adjusted approximately 2% higher.

When inflation rates flared in 2022 and 2023, that eventually showed up in roughly 7% upward adjustments for 2023 brackets and approximate 5% increases for 2024 brackets.

The OBBBA, signed into law in July, is keeping the current tax rates in place, avoiding a rate hike that would've increased taxes for nearly two-thirds of taxpayers. Keeping those marginal rates permanently intact was a key feature of the law, which the Republican-controlled House and Senate passed along party lines.

The U.S. has a progressive tax system, meaning most people are taxed in multiple tax brackets, at rates that increase as their taxable pay rises past thresholds. People only pay the higher tax rate on the portion of their income that falls within the higher bracket.

The OBBBA made permanent the income-tax brackets created by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, a tax-code overhaul signed into law by Trump in the first month of his first term's first year, and added an extra bit of inflation adjustment for the 10% and 12% brackets. The tweak begins in 2026 and will give tax bills a little shave, explained Garrett Watson, the director of policy analysis at the Tax Foundation.

Don't get too excited, he said - the extra inflation adjustment is "more a footnote than anything" because its impact is modest.

The cost of the extra inflation adjustment is projected to add approximately $24 billion to the federal deficit over a decade, he said. The cost of permanently extending the current marginal tax rates will add a projected $3.1 trillion to the deficit, Tax Foundation researchers said.

But OBBBA impacted much more than just tax brackets and marginal tax rates: Deductions cut taxable income, and tax credits reduce a household's tax liability, and the tax law created new twists on both fronts.

Lawmakers reset the widely used standard deduction to become larger for tax year 2025 and continue to grow in 2026 and beyond. The child tax credit is also increasing for 2025 and will be indexed to inflation.

Meanwhile, tipped workers, people earning overtime pay, senior citizens and buyers of certain U.S.-assembled cars may be able to claim deductions on their returns from tax years 2025 to 2028. The state and local tax deduction, or SALT, for homeowners is getting temporarily quadrupled through tax year 2029.

These tax breaks have income caps and phase-outs, which may prompt some people to strategize ways to reduce taxable income in order to qualify. Now is a good time to make tax-planning adjustments before the end of the year to take advantage of the new deductions, said Mark Steber, chief tax officer at Jackson Hewitt Tax Services.

Americans will file their income-tax returns based on the 2026 brackets during the tax-filing season that culminates on April 15, 2027, absent filing extensions. Here's what to expect:

   Single  Taxable income                The tax is: 
   10%     Not over $12,400              10% of the taxable income 
   12%     Over $12,400 up to $50,400    $1,240 plus 12% above $12,400 
   22%     Over $50,400 up to $105,700   $5,800 plus 22% above $50,400 
   24%     Over $105,700 up to $201,775  $17,966 plus 24% above $105,700 
   32%     Over $201,775 up to $256,225  $41,024 plus 32% above $201,775 
   35%     Over $256,225 up to $640,600  $58,448 plus 35% above $256,225 
   37%     Over $640,600                 $192,979.25 plus 37% above $640,600 
   Married filing jointly   Taxable income                The tax is: 
   10%                      Not over $24,800              10% of the taxable income 
   12%                      Over $24,800 up to $100,800   $2,480 plus 12% above $24,800 
   22%                      Over $100,800 up to $211,400  $11,600 plus 22% above $100,800 
   24%                      Over $211,400 up to $403,550  $35,932 plus 24% above $211,400 
   32%                      Over $403,550 up to $512,450  $82,048 plus 32% above $403,550 
   35%                      Over $512,450 up to $768,700  $116,896 plus 35% above $512,450 
   37%                      Over $768,700                 $206,583.50 plus 37% above $768,700 

What's the standard deduction for 2026?

The standard deduction was initially set for tax year 2025 at $15,000 for individuals and $30,000 for married couples filing jointly. The tax law nudged those 2025 amounts higher to $15,750 for individuals and to $31,500 for married couples.

For tax year 2026, the standard deduction will increase to $16,100 for individuals and to $32,200 for married couples, the IRS said Thursday.

The tax savings are larger for senior citizens and for people who are blind. Taxpayers ages 65 and older are already entitled to an additional standard deduction worth $1,600 this year and $1,650 next year. Taxpayers who are blind are entitled to the same amounts. (For 2025, the amount rises to $2,000 if the individual is also unmarried and not asurviving spouse. For next year, it's $2,050, according to the IRS.)

The new tax law doesn't affect the supplement to the standard deduction, said Andy Phillips, vice president of H&R Block's Tax Institute.

So a taxpayer who is at least age 65 and blind could claim the standard deduction, the supplements for both age and blindness, and also the new $6,000 senior bonus deduction. This would be the case through 2028, after which point the senior bonus expires, Phillips noted.

Even as the standard deduction grows, more taxpayers may decide to itemize their deductions instead. With the SALT deduction growing to $40,000 from $10,000, itemizing may become the better way to cut taxes for some - especially those who pay a lot in state income taxes and local property taxes.

These taxpayers may be especially clustered in California's Bay Area and the New York City metropolitan area, according to one analysis.

-Andrew Keshner

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October 09, 2025 11:14 ET (15:14 GMT)

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