Standard deduction amounts by filing status and age

What the standard deduction does

The standard deduction is the amount of income the IRS treats as tax free without asking you to prove any expenses. You subtract it from adjusted gross income (AGI), and what is left, after any other deductions, is taxable income. Your tax bracket is applied only to that remaining figure.

Most filers never need receipts for mortgage interest or medical bills, because this flat amount is larger than anything they could list on Schedule A. You pick one route each year: the standard deduction, or itemized deductions. You cannot take both, and you can switch from year to year.

For a step-by-step view of where the deduction sits in the return math, see how taxable income is calculated.

Standard deduction chart: 2025, 2026 and 2027 amounts

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (Public Law 119-21) made the larger post-2017 standard deduction permanent and raised the 2025 base. The IRS then indexed those figures for 2026 in Rev. Proc. 2025-32, released October 9, 2025.

The 2026 increase is $350 for single filers, $700 for joint filers and $525 for heads of household. The full breakdown, including the dependent rules, is on our 2026 standard deduction page.

The 2027 amounts have not been published. The IRS usually announces the next year's figures in October or November, and our standard deduction 2027 page explains what is already fixed by law and how the adjustment is calculated.

Extra amounts for age 65 and blind

Taxpayers who are 65 or older at the end of the year, or legally blind, add an additional standard deduction on top of the base amount. For 2026 it is $1,650 per condition for married filers and surviving spouses, and $2,050 per condition for single and head of household filers.

For 2026 you count as 65 if you were born before January 2, 1962. Blindness requires a certificate from an eye doctor, which you keep with your records. The separate $6,000 senior deduction is a different item; our standard deduction for seniors page shows how the two stack.

Who cannot take the standard deduction

Most people can choose it, but the IRS sets your standard deduction to zero in three cases listed in Publication 505:

• You are married filing separately and your spouse itemizes. Both spouses must use the same method.
• You are a dual-status alien for the year, meaning you were a nonresident for part of it.
• You file a return for a period shorter than 12 months because you changed your accounting period.

Someone who can be claimed as a dependent gets a limited amount. For 2026 it is the greater of $1,350 or earned income plus $450, but never more than the regular amount for their filing status. Separate kiddie tax rules cover how a child's investment income is taxed after that.

Standard deduction vs itemized: how to decide

Itemize only when your allowable Schedule A total is larger than your standard deduction. The main categories are medical costs above 7.5% of AGI, state and local taxes up to the SALT cap, home mortgage interest and charitable gifts. Our itemized deductions list walks through each one.

Worked example: a married couple checking both routes

A married couple filing jointly has AGI of $150,000 in 2026. They paid $14,000 of mortgage interest, $6,500 of property tax, $7,000 of state income tax and gave $3,000 in cash to charity.

1. State and local taxes: $6,500 + $7,000 = $13,500, well under the $40,400 SALT cap, so all $13,500 counts.
2. Charity: starting in 2026, itemizers lose the first 0.5% of AGI. That is $750, so $2,250 of the $3,000 counts.
3. Itemized total: $14,000 + $13,500 + $2,250 = $29,750.
4. Standard route: $32,200, plus up to $2,000 for cash gifts to charity, which non-itemizing joint filers can now deduct. That is $34,200.
5. Result: the standard deduction is $4,450 larger, so this couple should not itemize.

The closer call, and what changes it, is covered in itemize or take the standard deduction. If property and income taxes are your largest items, check the SALT deduction cap first, because it is the limit most likely to bind.

Deductions you get either way

Several write-offs sit outside the standard vs itemized choice. You can claim them whichever route you take, which is why a person using the standard deduction can still owe less than the chart suggests.

• Schedule 1-A deductions for 2025 through 2028: qualified tips (up to $25,000), the premium part of overtime (up to $12,500, or $25,000 joint), interest on a new US-assembled car loan (up to $10,000) and the $6,000 senior deduction. Each has an income phase-out.
• Cash gifts to charity without itemizing: from 2026, up to $1,000, or $2,000 on a joint return.
• Adjustments on Schedule 1: educator expenses up to $350, student loan interest up to $2,500, and half of self-employment tax, among others.
• Qualified business income deduction: available to eligible business owners in addition to the standard deduction.

The new items all flow through one form; see Schedule 1-A additional deductions for line-by-line detail.

How to claim the IRS standard deduction on your return

There is no separate form. Tax software fills in the amount once you answer a few questions, and on a paper return you work it out in four short steps.

1. Pick your filing status at the top of Form 1040, based on your marital status on December 31.
2. Check the boxes if you or your spouse were born before January 2, 1962, or are blind, and the box if someone can claim you as a dependent.
3. If no boxes are checked, enter the amount for your filing status from the chart. If any are checked, use the Standard Deduction Chart or worksheet in the Form 1040 instructions.
4. Enter the result on the deduction line under AGI, then subtract any Schedule 1-A deductions where the form directs before figuring taxable income.

If you are married and filing separately, confirm with your spouse first. If either of you itemizes, the other must too and the standard amount for the other spouse drops to zero.

How the standard deduction lowers your tax

Because the deduction comes off the top of income, its value equals the amount times your highest bracket rate on the income it removes. A single filer earning $60,000 in wages in 2026 has taxable income of $43,900 after the $16,100 deduction. Tax on $43,900 is $1,240 on the first $12,400 plus 12% of $31,500, or $5,020 in total.

Without the deduction, that same person would pay tax on $60,000, reaching into the 22% bracket. Tax on $60,000 would be $7,912, so the $16,100 deduction saves $2,892 here, which is a useful way to judge whether extra itemized items are worth tracking.