The 2026 standard deduction is $16,100 for single filers and married people filing separately, $24,150 for heads of household, and $32,200 for married couples filing jointly or a qualifying surviving spouse.1Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026, Including Amendments From the One, Big, Beautiful Bill You subtract that flat amount from your gross income before the IRS calculates what you owe, and most taxpayers claim it instead of itemizing because the figure is high enough that adding up individual expenses rarely produces a bigger deduction.
2026 Amounts by Filing Status
- Single: $16,100
- Married filing jointly or qualifying surviving spouse: $32,200
- Married filing separately: $16,100
- Head of household: $24,150
These are the baseline figures. Your filing status is set by your marital situation on December 31 of the tax year, so a couple who marries on December 30 files as married for the entire year, and a divorce finalized by year-end means filing as single or head of household.2Internal Revenue Service. Filing Status
Extra Amounts If You Are 65 or Older or Blind
If you are 65 or older, or legally blind, by December 31, you get an additional standard deduction stacked on top of the base amount.3Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 551, Standard Deduction The additions apply once per qualifying condition, so a single filer who is both over 65 and blind claims two, and a married couple where both spouses are over 65 and blind can claim four between them.
The 2026 dollar figures for the age and blindness additions adjust for inflation from the 2025 amounts of $1,600 per qualifying condition for married filers and $2,000 for unmarried filers and heads of household.3Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 551, Standard Deduction Legal blindness for tax purposes means best corrected visual acuity of 20/200 or worse, or a field of vision no wider than 20 degrees, and you need a certified statement from an eye doctor on file.
The New Enhanced Deduction for Seniors
Separately, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act created an enhanced deduction of $6,000 per qualifying individual for taxpayers 65 and older, or $12,000 for a married couple if both spouses are 65 or older. It runs from the 2025 tax year through 2028.4Internal Revenue Service. Check Your Eligibility for the New Enhanced Deduction for Seniors
This is on top of the base standard deduction and on top of the regular additional amount for age. A single filer over 65 in 2026 gets the $16,100 base, the age addition, and the $6,000 enhanced deduction. The three combined make a meaningful difference, and it is common for people to overlook the enhanced amount because it is new.
Who Cannot Claim the Standard Deduction
Federal law sets the standard deduction to zero for a few groups regardless of filing status.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 63 – Taxable Income Defined
- Married filing separately when your spouse itemizes. If one spouse itemizes, the other must too.
- Nonresident aliens. Your standard deduction is zero and you itemize instead. A narrow exception exists for students and business apprentices from India under a specific tax treaty.6Internal Revenue Service. Nonresident – Figuring Your Tax
- Dual-status aliens, generally. If you are married to a U.S. citizen or resident alien at year-end and choose to be treated as a resident for the full year, you can take it.7Internal Revenue Service. Publication 501 – Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information
- Short-year filers who file a return covering less than twelve months because of a change in annual accounting period.
- Estates, trusts, and common trust funds, which must always itemize.
Dependents Get a Reduced Amount
If someone else can claim you as a dependent, your standard deduction is limited to the greater of a small fixed floor or your earned income plus a set dollar amount, and it can never exceed the regular standard deduction for your filing status.7Internal Revenue Service. Publication 501 – Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information A teenager who earned $5,000 at a summer job would get roughly that amount plus a few hundred dollars. A dependent whose only income is $800 in savings account interest is limited to the floor. Both the floor and the earned-income add-on adjust each year, so check Publication 501 or the IRS inflation adjustments announcement for the current 2026 figures when you file.
One consequence catches families off guard: a dependent with unearned income above the floor may owe tax even on modest interest or investment earnings, and a return has to be filed.
When Itemizing Beats the Standard Deduction
Each year you choose between the standard deduction and itemizing on Schedule A, and you take whichever is larger. You cannot do both in the same tax year.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 63 – Taxable Income Defined
The common itemizable categories are state and local taxes (capped at $40,000 for most filers under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, phasing down to $10,000 for individual taxpayers earning above $500,000), mortgage interest on up to $750,000 of debt for your primary and secondary home, medical and dental expenses above 7.5 percent of your adjusted gross income, charitable contributions to qualified organizations, and casualty and theft losses from federally declared disasters.8Internal Revenue Service. New and Enhanced Deductions for Individuals9Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 502, Medical and Dental Expenses
With the joint-filer standard deduction sitting at $32,200 for 2026, a married couple would need itemizable expenses above that figure before itemizing produces any savings. Homeowners in high-tax states with large mortgages are the group most likely to clear that bar, particularly now that the SALT cap has increased to $40,000. Most tax software runs both calculations and picks the better result automatically. If you file by hand, complete Schedule A, compare the total to your standard deduction, and claim whichever is higher.
Fixing It If You Chose Wrong
If you realize after filing that the other method would have saved you more, you can switch by filing Form 1040-X. The deadline is three years from your original filing date (including any extensions) or two years after you paid the tax, whichever is later.10Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1040-X
Switching to itemized deductions means attaching a completed Schedule A documenting each expense. If you filed separately from your spouse, both of you must make the same change; one spouse cannot switch to itemizing while the other keeps the standard deduction.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 63 – Taxable Income Defined Amended returns take longer to process than original filings, and the IRS may ask for records to verify claimed expenses, so pull your documentation together before you start.