How the standard deduction works
The standard deduction is the no-receipts alternative to itemizing. From your adjusted gross income (AGI) you subtract the standard deduction or your Schedule A total, whichever is larger, and after a few other deductions what remains is your taxable income. You can’t take both.
It has two parts. The basic amount depends on your filing status. An additional amount is added for each person who is 65 or older and for each person who is blind: for 2026, $1,650 per condition on a married or surviving-spouse return, or $2,050 if you are unmarried, so a single filer who is 65 and blind adds $4,100. You count as 65 on the day before your 65th birthday, and blindness is tested on the last day of the year.
In practice the deduction works like a 0% tax bracket beneath the 10% one: a married couple’s first $32,200 of ordinary income in 2026 is untaxed. That is why retirees in low-income years often fill the band with traditional IRA withdrawals or Roth conversions. Any part you leave unused is lost; it can’t be carried to another year.
2026 amounts and who gets a smaller deduction
For 2026 the basic standard deduction is $16,100 for single filers and married people filing separately, $32,200 for married couples filing jointly and qualifying surviving spouses, and $24,150 for heads of household. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), signed July 4, 2025, made permanent the larger deduction the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act introduced for 2018, set 2025 at $15,750, $31,500 and $23,625, and indexed those amounts to inflation from 2026, rounded down to the nearest $50.
A few filers get less, or nothing at all:
- Dependents: if someone else can claim you, your 2026 basic amount is the greater of $1,350 or your earned income plus $450, capped at the regular amount for your status.
- Married filing separately: if your spouse itemizes, your standard deduction is zero, so you should itemize too.
- Nonresident and dual-status aliens generally get none, unless married to a US citizen or resident and electing to be taxed as a resident for the whole year.
- Returns covering less than 12 months because of a change in accounting period, and estates and trusts, get none.
Deductions you keep when you take the standard deduction
Choosing the standard deduction doesn’t forfeit every other break. Adjustments to income, such as deductible traditional IRA contributions, HSA contributions and half of self-employment tax, come off before AGI whichever way you go. A second group comes after AGI but sits outside Schedule A, so standard-deduction filers and itemizers both claim it; the four newest are figured on Schedule 1-A of Form 1040. Seniors get the age add-on and the senior deduction together; one does not replace the other. For 2026 the list is:
- The senior deduction: $6,000 for each person 65 or older, for 2025–2028, phasing out above $75,000 of modified AGI ($150,000 joint).
- A charitable deduction for non-itemizers: up to $1,000 ($2,000 joint) of cash gifts to public charities, starting in 2026. Gifts to donor-advised funds and supporting organizations don’t count.
- The qualified business income deduction under section 199A, for many sole proprietors and owners of pass-through businesses.
- Deductions for qualified tips, overtime pay and interest on loans for new US-assembled cars, each for 2025–2028 and each with its own income limits.
Standard deduction vs. itemizing
Each year you take whichever is larger: the standard deduction or your allowed itemized total. Because the standard amount is large, many households never itemize. Those who do usually combine high state and local taxes, a sizable mortgage and regular giving, and the SALT deduction, capped at $40,400 for 2026, is often the swing item.
The choice is made fresh every year, which opens a planning move: concentrate flexible expenses such as charitable gifts into alternate years, itemize in those years and take the standard deduction in between. That is bunching deductions.
You may also elect to itemize when the total is smaller, for example because it helps on your state return; Schedule A has a checkbox for that election.
Common standard deduction mistakes
Most standard deduction errors cluster around birthdays, marriage and low-income years. The costliest is quiet: after paychecks stop and before required minimum distributions begin, income can fall below the deduction, and the unused part is gone. A couple who leaves $20,000 of it empty passes up moving that much out of a traditional IRA free of federal income tax, money that may later be taxed at 12% or more. Software handles the arithmetic once the boxes are ticked correctly; these are the calls it can’t make:
- Missing the age add-on for a January 1 birthday: someone who turns 65 on January 1, 2027 counts as 65 for 2026.
- Expecting the $6,000 senior deduction on a separate return. A married couple must file jointly to claim it, and each qualifying person’s Social Security number must be on the return.
- Expecting the deduction to lower AGI. It comes off after AGI, so it doesn’t reduce Medicare IRMAA surcharges or the taxable share of Social Security.
- Assuming your state matches. State income tax returns set their own deductions and exemptions.
Illustrative numbers
A married couple, both 67, filing jointly in 2026
- Basic amount
- $16,100 single or married filing separately, $32,200 joint or surviving spouse, $24,150 head of household (2026)
- Additional amount
- $1,650 per box if married or a surviving spouse; $2,050 if unmarried (2026)
- Boxes
- One for being 65 or older and one for being blind, for you and, on a joint return, your spouse: up to four
If someone can claim you as a dependent, the basic amount is limited to the greater of $1,350 or earned income plus $450.
Basic standard deduction, married filing jointly$32,200
Additional amount for age, 2 × $1,650$3,300
Senior deduction, 2 × $6,000 (MAGI under $150,000)$12,000
AGI from pensions, IRA withdrawals and taxable Social Security$90,000
Taxable income: $90,000 − $35,500 − $12,000$42,500
Federal income tax: 10% of $24,800 + 12% of $17,700$4,604
Their $35,500 standard deduction and $12,000 senior deduction shelter $47,500, so only $42,500 is taxed and their effective tax rate on AGI is about 5.1%. The senior deduction ends after 2028 under current law; the age add-on does not.
At a glance
Standard deduction by filing status, 2026, with the 2025 amounts for comparison
| Filing status | 2026 basic amount | Extra per 65+ or blind box, 2026 | 2025 basic amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single | $16,100 | $2,050 | $15,750 |
| Married filing jointly | $32,200 | $1,650 | $31,500 |
| Married filing separately | $16,100 | $1,650 | $15,750 |
| Head of household | $24,150 | $2,050 | $23,625 |
| Qualifying surviving spouse | $32,200 | $1,650 | $31,500 |
| Dependent | Greater of $1,350 or earned income + $450 | Same as the filer’s status | Greater of $1,350 or earned income + $450 |
Put it in your plan
Standard Deduction in MoneyWhatIf
MoneyWhatIf’s tax model starts from the 2026 federal standard deduction and, in each projected year, uses it or the plan’s itemized total, whichever is larger. On the Taxes page, the federal bracket ladder begins with the standard deduction as its untaxed rung, indexed at your plan’s inflation rate, so you can see how much of a year’s income it shelters and which bracket the last dollar reaches. The tax map then shows the all-in rate on extra income in $1,000 steps, the view a Roth conversion is sized against.
Common questions
Standard Deduction FAQs
Do seniors get a bigger standard deduction in 2026?
Yes, in two layers. The permanent age add-on is $2,050 for an unmarried filer and $1,650 per spouse on a married return. Separately, the senior deduction adds $6,000 per person 65 or older for 2025–2028, phasing out above $75,000 of modified AGI ($150,000 joint). A single 66-year-old with modest income can deduct $16,100 + $2,050 + $6,000 = $24,150.
Do I have to file a tax return if my income is below the standard deduction?
Often not. For most people the filing threshold equals the basic standard deduction plus any age-65 add-on, and Social Security counts toward gross income only when half of it plus your other income tops $25,000 ($32,000 joint). Married people filing separately must file with just $5 of gross income, and anyone with $400 of net self-employment earnings must file. Filing still pays if tax was withheld or you qualify for a refundable credit.
Can I take the standard deduction and still deduct charitable donations?
From 2026, yes, up to a point. Non-itemizers can deduct up to $1,000 ($2,000 on a joint return) of cash gifts to public charities. Gifts to donor-advised funds and supporting organizations don’t qualify, and gifts of stock or goods don’t count. Larger gifts need itemizing, or, from age 70½, a qualified charitable distribution from an IRA.
Is the standard deduction per person or per return?
It is set per return by filing status. A married couple filing jointly gets one $32,200 amount for 2026, exactly double the single figure, so marriage alone doesn’t shrink it. The age and blindness add-ons are counted per person and per condition, which is why two spouses over 65 add $3,300.