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2026 Standard Deduction Calculator

The standard deduction is the flat amount that reduces taxable income for taxpayers who do not itemize. The IRS confirmed the 2026 amounts in its inflation adjustment release, including the increases enacted by the One, Big, Beautiful Bill for 2025.

Select a filing status and a tax year to see the exact figure and the year-over-year change. This is a lookup tool rather than a tax projection: no income input is required, because the deduction itself does not depend on how much you earn.

Official 2026 figures used here

How to read the result

Married couples filing jointly receive exactly double the single amount in both years, which is why the joint increase of $700 is also double the single increase of $350. Head of household sits between the two at $24,150 for 2026.

Taxpayers who are 65 or older, or blind, receive an additional standard deduction on top of these base amounts. A separate temporary deduction of up to $6,000 per qualifying individual aged 65 or older also applies for tax years 2025 through 2028; the eligibility checker on this site covers that provision.

This site reports base amounts only. If your mortgage interest, state and local taxes, charitable gifts and other itemizable expenses exceed the standard deduction, comparing the two requires an itemized worksheet, which is outside this tool.

The choice between the standard deduction and itemizing is either-or for most filers: you claim one, not both. The temporary senior deduction and the long-standing additional amounts for age or blindness are the exceptions, because they sit outside that choice and can be claimed on top of the base figure. Practically, this means the published base amount is a floor rather than a ceiling on what a household may deduct. If mortgage interest, charitable gifts and state and local taxes together exceed the base amount, an itemized worksheet is worth preparing before assuming the standard deduction is better. Conversely, with no large itemizable expenses, the lookup result is the number that will appear on the return.

Filing status itself is a source of errors that no deduction table can fix. Head of household is not simply single with dependents: it generally requires paying more than half the cost of keeping up a home for a qualifying person, and the deduction sits between the single and joint amounts for that reason. Married filing separately is often chosen for reasons unrelated to tax minimization, such as income-driven student loan repayment, but it usually carries the least favorable thresholds. A surviving spouse may use the joint amount for a limited period after a spouse's death. Because eligibility rules, not income, decide which column you belong in, confirm the status before trusting any lookup.

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