Deductions · calculator
Standard deduction for 2026 and 2025
The flat amount every filer subtracts before the brackets, and the extra amounts age and blindness add.
Your standard deduction
2026 standard deduction
$16,100
- Basic amount$16,100
- Additional amount ($2,050 per box)$0
- Senior deduction (Schedule 1-A, 2025 to 2028)$0
- Total subtracted before the brackets$16,100
Ages and blindness are judged on December 31. The senior deduction is claimed on Schedule 1-A even if you itemize.
The 2026 standard deduction is $16,100 for a single filer or a married person filing separately, $24,150 for a head of household and $32,200 for a married couple filing jointly, under section 4.14 of Rev. Proc. 2025-32. Each person aged 65 or older, or blind, adds $2,050 if unmarried and $1,650 if married, so a single filer of 67 subtracts $18,150 and a couple where both spouses are past 65 subtracts $35,500. On top of that, for 2025 through 2028, the new senior deduction of Schedule 1-A adds up to $6,000 per person aged 65 or older, shrinking above $75,000 of modified AGI ($150,000 joint). For the 2025 return filed in 2026, Public Law 119-21 raised the amounts to $15,750, $23,625 and $31,500. You take the standard deduction unless your itemized deductions add up to more; someone claimed as a dependent gets the larger of $1,350 or earned income plus $450.
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All the 2026 and 2025 amounts in one table
| Filing status | 2025 return | 2026 return | Extra per box at 65 or blind (2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single | $15,750 | $16,100 | $2,050 |
| Married filing jointly | $31,500 | $32,200 | $1,650 |
| Head of household | $23,625 | $24,150 | $2,050 |
| Married filing separately | $15,750 | $16,100 | $1,650 |
The extra amount is counted per box: one for being 65 or older on December 31, one for being blind. A single filer who is both gets $4,100 on top, the figure printed in the 2026 Form 1040-ES chart. Spouses each check their own boxes, so a joint return can add up to four times $1,650. When one spouse itemizes on a separate return, the other's standard deduction drops to zero.
Standard deduction and senior deduction are two different things
The age-based addition has existed for decades and appears on the first page of Form 1040. The senior deduction is new, sits on Schedule 1-A, applies only from 2025 to 2028 and phases out with income: $6,000 per person minus 6% of modified AGI above $75,000 ($150,000 on a joint return). A widow with $60,000 of modified AGI keeps all of it; with $120,000 she keeps $3,300. The senior deduction calculator runs that phase-out alone.
When itemizing beats it
Itemizing pays when mortgage interest, state and local taxes up to the SALT cap, charitable gifts and large medical bills add up to more than the amount in the table. With the cap at $40,400 for 2026, a married couple paying $22,000 of property and state income tax and $14,000 of mortgage interest reaches $36,000, above the $32,200 joint standard deduction. The itemize-or-not calculator compares the two with the 2026 floor on charitable gifts. From 2026, non-itemizers also deduct up to $1,000 of cash gifts ($2,000 joint), see the charitable deduction page.
Sources: IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32: 2026 inflation-adjusted items and 2025 items modified by Public Law 119-21 (October 9, 2025); Form 1040-ES (2026) standard deduction chart, read on October 11, 2026.