Standard Deduction 2026: Amounts by Filing Status (and Who Should Itemize)

For the 2026 tax year (the return you’ll file in early 2027), the standard deduction is $16,100 for single filers, $32,200 for married couples filing jointly, and $24,150 for heads of household, according to IRS.gov. Most taxpayers — roughly 9 in 10, historically — take the standard deduction rather than itemizing, because it’s simpler and often larger than what they could claim by listing individual expenses. Whether itemizing makes sense for you depends on how much you paid in mortgage interest, state and local taxes, and charitable gifts last year.

2026 Standard Deduction Amounts by Filing Status

The IRS adjusts the standard deduction annually for inflation, and it also reflects changes from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), signed into law in 2025, which permanently raised the base standard deduction amounts starting with the 2025 tax year. Here’s how the 2026 figures compare with 2025.

These numbers come from the IRS’s annual inflation adjustments (Revenue Procedure 2025-32). Because Congress or the IRS can issue technical corrections, always confirm the final figures on IRS.gov before you file, especially if you’re using older tax software or a worksheet you saved from a previous year.

Extra Deduction If You’re 65 or Older, or Blind

On top of the regular standard deduction, taxpayers who are 65 or older, or who are blind, get an additional amount. For 2026, that additional standard deduction is:

• $1,650 per qualifying condition for married taxpayers (filing jointly or separately)
• $2,050 per qualifying condition for single filers and heads of household

If you’re both 65+ and blind, you can claim the addition twice. A married couple who are both 65 or older, for example, would add $3,300 ($1,650 × 2) to their $32,200 base deduction, for a total of $35,500.

The New “Senior Bonus” Deduction (2025–2028)

The OBBBA also created a temporary additional deduction specifically for people 65 and older, on top of the age-based addition described above. This “senior bonus” deduction is up to $6,000 per qualifying person ($12,000 for a married couple where both spouses are 65+), available for tax years 2025 through 2028, whether you itemize or take the standard deduction.

It phases out for higher earners — the reduction begins at modified adjusted gross income above $75,000 for single filers and $150,000 for joint filers. The deduction is reduced by 6% of MAGI above those thresholds and disappears entirely above $175,000 (single) and $250,000 (joint). Married taxpayers must file a joint return to claim it, and each person claiming it needs a valid Social Security number.

Standard Deduction vs. Itemizing: How to Decide

You get to choose the larger of the two each year — there’s no penalty for switching methods from one year to the next, as long as you and your spouse (if filing separately) use the same method.

Itemizing means listing specific deductible expenses on Schedule A instead of taking the flat standard deduction. Common itemized deductions include:

• Mortgage interest on up to $750,000 of home acquisition debt ($375,000 if married filing separately)
• State and local taxes (SALT) — income or sales tax plus property tax, subject to a cap that the OBBBA raised to $40,000 for 2025 and $40,400 for 2026, with 1% annual increases through 2029, a phase-down (never below $10,000) for modified AGI above $505,000 in 2026, and a scheduled return to $10,000 in 2030
• Charitable contributions to qualified organizations, deductible for itemizers only to the extent they exceed 0.5% of your AGI — a new floor that takes effect with the 2026 tax year
• Medical and dental expenses exceeding 7.5% of your adjusted gross income
• Casualty and theft losses in federally declared disaster areas

The math is straightforward: add up what you’d actually claim on Schedule A. If that total exceeds your standard deduction for your filing status, itemize. If it doesn’t, take the standard deduction and save yourself the paperwork.

Who Tends to Benefit From Itemizing

Itemizing is more likely to pay off if you:

• Own a home with a large mortgage balance and pay significant mortgage interest
• Live in a state with high income or property taxes, especially now that the SALT cap is $40,400 for 2026 rather than $10,000
• Made large charitable donations, including appreciated stock or a donor-advised fund contribution
• Had major uninsured medical expenses in a single year
• Suffered a significant, federally declared disaster loss

Renters, people with paid-off homes, and residents of no-income-tax states like Florida or Texas usually come out ahead with the standard deduction, since they lack two of the biggest itemized categories.

Can You Do Both? (Above-the-Line Deductions)

Some deductions are available regardless of whether you itemize. These “above-the-line” deductions reduce your adjusted gross income before you even choose between standard and itemized. Examples include:

• Traditional IRA contributions (subject to income limits if you or your spouse have a workplace plan)
• HSA contributions
• Student loan interest, up to $2,500, subject to income phase-outs
• Educator expenses, up to a set annual cap
• Self-employment tax deduction (half of what you pay)
• Cash charitable contributions of up to $1,000 ($2,000 married filing jointly) for taxpayers who do not itemize — a new permanent deduction that starts with the 2026 tax year (donor-advised fund gifts don’t qualify)

These don’t compete with the standard deduction — you can claim them and still take the standard deduction on top.

How to Claim the Standard Deduction

For most filers, this requires no extra effort:

1. Determine your filing status — single, married filing jointly, married filing separately, head of household, or qualifying surviving spouse.
2. Check the boxes on Form 1040 for age 65+ or blind, for yourself and your spouse if applicable. Tax software and the paper instructions use these checkboxes to calculate your additional amounts automatically.
3. Let the software or worksheet apply the correct amount. If you’re filing by hand, the standard deduction chart is printed directly in the Form 1040 instructions each year.
4. Compare against Schedule A only if you have reason to think itemizing might be larger — significant mortgage interest, SALT near or above $40,400, or large charitable gifts are the usual triggers.

There’s no separate application or deadline tied to the standard deduction itself — it’s built into your annual tax return, due by the standard mid-April filing deadline (April 15, 2027, for the 2026 tax year, unless that date changes due to a weekend or holiday).

A Few Situations Where You Can’t Use the Standard Deduction

A small number of taxpayers aren’t eligible for the standard deduction at all, including:

• A married person filing separately whose spouse itemizes
• A nonresident alien or dual-status alien during the year (with limited exceptions)
• Someone filing a short-year return due to a change in accounting period
• An estate or trust (these follow different rules entirely)

If any of these apply to you, check the specific rules in IRS Publication 501, since the standard deduction won’t be an option regardless of the dollar amounts involved.

Sources

• IRS.gov, Standard Deduction: https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc551
• IRS.gov, Publication 501 (Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information): https://www.irs.gov/publications/p501
• IRS.gov, Newsroom (annual inflation adjustments): https://www.irs.gov/newsroom
• IRS.gov, Schedule A (Itemized Deductions) instructions: https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-schedule-a-form-1040

Is the standard deduction the same as the personal exemption?

No. The personal exemption was suspended under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and was made permanent at $0 by the OBBBA — personal exemptions remain $0 for 2026. The standard deduction is a separate, flat-dollar reduction to your taxable income and has no connection to exemptions for dependents, which are now handled through credits like the Child Tax Credit instead.

Do I need receipts if I take the standard deduction?

No. The standard deduction is a fixed amount based on your filing status and age/blindness status — you don’t need to document specific expenses to claim it. Keep records only if you’re itemizing or claiming above-the-line deductions like student loan interest or IRA contributions, since those do require documentation if the IRS asks.

Can my standard deduction amount change if I get married or divorced during the year?

Yes. Your filing status is determined by your marital status as of December 31 of the tax year, regardless of what it was earlier in the year. If you marry on December 30, 2026, you can file as married filing jointly for the entire 2026 tax year and use the $32,200 joint standard deduction, even though you were single for most of the year.

Related reading

• Social Security COLA for 2026: How Much Bigger Will Your Check Be?
• Medicare Open Enrollment: Dates, What You Can Change, and Costly Mistakes
• Medicare Advantage vs Original Medicare: A Plain-English Comparison

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