2026 standard deduction amounts
These are the IRS figures for tax year 2026, the return you'll file in early 2027:
| Filing status | 2026 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Married filing jointly / surviving spouse | $32,200 | $31,500 |
| Head of household | $24,150 | $23,625 |
| Single | $16,100 | $15,750 |
| Married filing separately | $16,100 | $15,750 |
If you're 65 or older or blind, you add $1,650 per person if married, or $2,050 if single or head of household. A married couple who are both over 65 get $32,200 + $3,300 = $35,500. Someone claimed as a dependent gets the greater of $1,350 or earned income plus $450.
The 2025 tax law (the One Big Beautiful Bill Act) made these higher amounts permanent and indexed for inflation. Before 2018 the standard deduction was roughly half as large.
The new $6,000 senior deduction
For tax years 2025 through 2028, everyone 65 or older can take an extra $6,000 deduction ($12,000 if both spouses qualify). It's separate from the age-65 standard deduction add-on above, and you get it whether you itemize or not, so it doesn't change the standard-versus-itemize decision.
It phases out by 6% of modified AGI above $75,000 ($150,000 on a joint return). Married couples have to file jointly to claim it, and each person needs a valid Social Security number. You claim it on Schedule 1-A.
The SALT cap is now $40,400
This is the change that matters most for homeowners. From 2018 through 2024, you could deduct at most $10,000 of state and local taxes (property tax plus state income or sales tax). That cap pushed millions of homeowners onto the standard deduction. For 2025 it rose to $40,000, and for 2026 it's $40,400.
- High earners lose some of it. The cap drops by 30% of modified AGI above $505,000 in 2026, but never below $10,000. At $550,000 of MAGI, the cap is $40,400 − (30% × $45,000) = $26,900. Around $606,000 and above, it's back to $10,000.
- Married filing separately is half: $20,200, phasing down above $252,500, with a $5,000 floor.
- It's temporary. The cap rises 1% a year through 2029 and then returns to $10,000 in 2030 unless Congress acts.
- Rentals are different. Property taxes on rental or business property aren't subject to the cap at all. They go on Schedule E or C.
Our guide to whether property taxes are deductible covers what counts toward the cap.
Other 2026 changes that affect itemizing
- Mortgage interest: still deductible on up to $750,000 of acquisition debt ($1 million for loans from before December 16, 2017), and that limit is now permanent. Home equity interest is deductible only if the money was used to buy, build or improve the home.
- Mortgage insurance (PMI, FHA, VA, USDA premiums) is deductible again starting in 2026, as mortgage interest. It phases out for AGI between $100,000 and $109,000.
- Charity for non-itemizers: from 2026, if you take the standard deduction you can still deduct up to $1,000 of cash gifts to charity ($2,000 joint). Gifts to donor-advised funds don't count.
- Charity for itemizers: only the part of your gifts above 0.5% of AGI is deductible.
- Top bracket: if you're in the 37% bracket, itemized deductions are trimmed so each dollar saves about 35 cents.
The two charity rules make the comparison a little closer. Choosing the standard deduction no longer means giving up your charitable deduction entirely.
When itemizing wins: worked examples
You itemize when your total itemized deductions (SALT up to the cap, mortgage interest, charity, medical costs above 7.5% of AGI and a few others) are more than your standard deduction. If you give at least $1,000 / $2,000 to charity anyway, compare against the standard deduction plus that amount.
A married couple in a mid-tax state
AGI $150,000, both under 65: $12,000 property tax, $6,000 state income tax, $14,000 mortgage interest, $3,000 to charity.
- Itemized: $18,000 SALT (under the cap) + $14,000 interest + $2,250 charity ($3,000 minus the $750 floor) = $34,250
- Standard: $32,200 + $2,000 non-itemizer charity deduction = $34,200
- Itemizing wins by $50, which is about $11 of tax. In practice it's a wash.
Under the old $10,000 cap, the same couple's itemized total would have been $27,000 and they'd have taken the standard deduction without thinking about it. If both were 65 or older, the standard side would be $37,500 and would win by more than $3,000.
A single homeowner in New Jersey
$10,000 in property tax (about the New Jersey average), $3,500 in state income tax, $8,000 in mortgage interest.
- Itemized: $10,000 + $3,500 + $8,000 = $21,500
- Standard: $16,100 ($17,100 with a $1,000 charity gift)
- Itemizing wins by $4,400 to $5,400, worth roughly $970 to $1,190 at a 22% bracket.
Before 2025, that state income tax added nothing because property tax alone used the whole $10,000 cap. Once the mortgage is paid off, though, the same person drops to $13,500 of itemized deductions and the standard deduction wins.
The pattern: homeowners in high-tax states with a mortgage are the main group that gains from the higher cap. Retirees with paid-off homes almost always do better with the standard deduction plus the age-65 add-on. See states with the highest property taxes and our New Jersey rates by town.
Ways to get more out of it
- Bunching. If you're close to the line, pay two years of charity in one year (and take the standard deduction the next). Some counties let you prepay property tax, but only tax that's actually been assessed counts in the year you pay it.
- Check your escrow statement. Deduct the property tax your lender actually paid during the year, not the amount it collected from you. Your Form 1098 or escrow statement shows it. More in our escrow guide.
- Lower the bill itself. A deduction saves you 22 to 37 cents on the dollar. A successful assessment appeal or a homestead exemption saves the whole dollar.
Only about 9.5% of tax returns itemized in 2022, the latest year with final IRS data. With the higher SALT cap that share is likely to rise in high-tax states, but for most households the standard deduction will still win.
Sources
Standard deduction and age-65 amounts are from IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32 and the IRS's 2026 inflation adjustment release (IR-2025-103). SALT cap figures, the senior deduction and the charity, mortgage insurance and 37% bracket rules are from IRS Publication 505 (2026), Publication 936 and IRS newsroom guidance on the 2025 law, checked against the Internal Revenue Code (sections 68, 151, 163, 164 and 170). The itemizing share is from IRS Statistics of Income (Publication 1304, tax year 2022). This is general information, not tax advice.