Tax deductions for seniors over 70 center on a much larger standard deduction, a lower threshold before medical expenses start counting, and a handful of age-specific tools like qualified charitable distributions from an IRA and the capital gains exclusion on a home sale. For 2026, a single filer age 65 or older gets a $16,100 base standard deduction plus a $2,050 age-based addition, and a separate new senior deduction of $6,000 per qualifying person applies for tax years 2025 through 2028. Stacked together, these provisions let many retirees earn a substantial amount of income before owing any federal tax at all.
The Standard Deduction You Actually Get
The standard deduction is the amount of income that goes untaxed before any of your money is exposed to federal income tax, and it grows once you turn 65. For 2026, the base is $16,100 for single filers, $32,200 for married couples filing jointly, and $24,150 for heads of household. Every taxpayer age 65 or older adds $2,050 if unmarried, or $1,650 per qualifying spouse if married.1Internal Revenue Service. Revenue Procedure 2025-32 The IRS treats you as 65 on the day before your 65th birthday, so a January 1, 1962 birthday counts for the full 2026 tax year.
For 2025 through 2028, a separate provision adds an extra $6,000 deduction for each taxpayer age 65 or older, or $12,000 for a married couple filing jointly when both spouses qualify.2Internal Revenue Service. 2026 Filing Season Updates and Resources for Seniors This is on top of the long-standing age-based addition, not instead of it.
The numbers add up quickly. A married couple where both spouses are over 65 combines $32,200 (base) with $3,300 (regular age additions) and $12,000 (new senior deduction) for a total standard deduction of $47,500.1Internal Revenue Service. Revenue Procedure 2025-32 For a household living mostly on Social Security and modest retirement withdrawals, that alone can wipe out the federal income tax bill.
When You Don’t Have to File at All
You’re only required to file a federal return if your gross income tops your total standard deduction, and the higher deduction pushes the filing threshold higher too. For 2025 returns, a single filer age 65 or older didn’t need to file unless gross income reached $17,550, and a couple with both spouses 65 or older could earn up to $34,700 before a return was required.3Internal Revenue Service. Check if You Need to File a Tax Return The 2026 thresholds will run higher, reflecting inflation adjustments and the new senior deduction.
File anyway if federal tax was withheld from any of your income during the year, because a return is the only way to get it back. The same applies if a refundable credit is on the table.
Medical and Dental Expenses
Unreimbursed medical and dental expenses are deductible to the extent they exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 213 – Medical, Dental, Etc., Expenses At $50,000 in AGI, the first $3,750 doesn’t count; anything above that does. You claim these on Schedule A, so the deduction only helps if your total itemized deductions beat your standard deduction. Given how large the senior standard deduction has become, running the numbers both ways matters.
What counts is broader than most people expect:
- Insurance premiums, including Medicare Part B and Part D, Medigap policies, and long-term care insurance (subject to age-based caps below).
- Hearing aids and batteries, prescription glasses and contact lenses, dentures, and other dental work.
- Home modifications made for medical reasons that don’t add value to the property: ramps, widened doorways, grab bars, stair changes.
- Travel to reach medical care, including bus, taxi, train, and plane fares, plus mileage if you drive; the 2026 IRS medical mileage rate is 20.5 cents per mile.
5Internal Revenue Service. Publication 502 (2025), Medical and Dental Expenses6Internal Revenue Service. IRS Sets 2026 Business Standard Mileage Rate at 72.5 Cents Per Mile, Up 2.5 Cents
Long-Term Care Insurance Premium Caps
Long-term care premiums are deductible up to age-based limits. For 2026, taxpayers between 61 and 70 can count up to $4,960 per person, and those 71 or older can count up to $6,200 per person. The capped amount is what gets added to your medical expense total; it still has to clear the 7.5% floor before it reduces tax.
Nursing Home and Assisted Living
If you or a spouse lives in a nursing home primarily for medical care, the full cost, including meals and lodging, counts as a medical expense. If the reason for being there is custodial or otherwise non-medical, only the portion tied to actual medical services is deductible.7Internal Revenue Service. Medical, Nursing Home, Special Care Expenses For seniors in assisted living, ask the facility for a written breakdown separating medical from non-medical charges.
Qualified Charitable Distributions From an IRA
Starting at age 70½, you can send money directly from a traditional IRA to a qualified charity and keep it off your tax return entirely. These qualified charitable distributions, or QCDs, are one of the strongest tools available to seniors over 70, particularly if you take the standard deduction and don’t itemize. The money moves from the IRA to the charity and never shows up as income.8Internal Revenue Service. Seniors Can Reduce Their Tax Burden by Donating to Charity Through Their IRA
For 2026, the annual QCD limit is $111,000 per person. Married spouses can each donate up to that limit from their own IRAs. A QCD also counts toward your required minimum distribution for the year, so you can satisfy the withdrawal rule without adding to your taxable income.9Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Plan and IRA Required Minimum Distributions FAQs
The ripple effects matter as much as the direct tax savings. Keeping your adjusted gross income lower can reduce how much of your Social Security is taxable, and Medicare Part B and Part D premiums rise with income through the income-related monthly adjustment amount (IRMAA). For someone who was already going to give to charity, routing the gift through a QCD instead of writing a check is almost always the better move.
Two rules trip people up. The money has to go directly from your IRA custodian to the charity; if it lands in your bank account first, even briefly, it becomes a regular taxable distribution. And QCDs cannot go to donor-advised funds or private foundations.
Selling Your Home
Downsizing is common at this age, and the tax code offers meaningful relief on the profit. You can exclude up to $250,000 of gain from the sale of a primary home if single, or up to $500,000 if married filing jointly.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 121 – Exclusion of Gain From Sale of Principal Residence The gain is the sale price minus your adjusted basis, which is roughly what you paid plus the cost of permanent improvements you made over the years.
To qualify, you must have owned and lived in the home as your main residence for at least two of the five years before the sale, and those years don’t have to be consecutive. For a married couple claiming the full $500,000, both spouses must meet the use test but only one needs to meet the ownership test.11Internal Revenue Service. Sale of Residence – Real Estate Tax Tips If part of the home was rented out or used as a home office, the portion of gain equal to depreciation you claimed can’t be excluded. The exclusion is available once every two years.
How Social Security Income Fits In
Whether your Social Security is taxed depends on your “combined income,” defined as adjusted gross income plus tax-exempt interest plus half your benefits.12Internal Revenue Service. Publication 915 (2025), Social Security and Equivalent Railroad Retirement Benefits
For a single filer, benefits aren’t taxed if combined income is below $25,000; up to 50% become taxable between $25,000 and $34,000; and up to 85% become taxable above $34,000. For a married couple filing jointly, the same brackets kick in at $32,000 and $44,000.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 86 – Social Security and Tier 1 Railroad Retirement Benefits These thresholds have never been indexed to inflation, so more retirees cross them each year.
The planning point: traditional IRA and 401(k) withdrawals count toward combined income, but qualified Roth IRA distributions generally don’t, and QCDs bypass the calculation entirely because the money never becomes income in the first place.
Required Minimum Distributions Starting at 73
At age 73, the IRS requires you to withdraw a minimum amount each year from traditional IRAs, SEP IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, and most employer retirement plans. If you were born after 1959, the starting age becomes 75.14Internal Revenue Service. Retirement Topics – Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) The withdrawals are taxed as ordinary income, and missing one triggers a 25% excise tax on the shortfall.15Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 4974 – Excise Tax on Certain Accumulations in Qualified Retirement Plans
Take the missed distribution within two years of the deadline and the penalty drops to 10%. You report the shortfall and request a waiver on Form 5329, and the IRS will often waive the penalty entirely for reasonable cause such as serious illness or a custodian error, especially once the shortfall has been corrected.
RMDs are recalculated each year using your prior-year account balance and a life expectancy factor from IRS tables. The required percentage rises with age, meaning larger taxable withdrawals as you get older. QCDs, Roth conversions done in earlier years, and careful timing of withdrawals across accounts are the main tools for managing this.
The Credit for the Elderly or Disabled
A separate, non-refundable Credit for the Elderly or the Disabled exists and gets claimed on Schedule R.16Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Schedule R (Form 1040) The starting amount is $5,000 for a single filer, or $7,500 for a married couple filing jointly with both spouses 65 or older, but it’s reduced dollar-for-dollar by nontaxable Social Security and pensions, and again by half of AGI above $7,500 (single) or $10,000 (joint).17Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 22 – Credit for the Elderly and the Permanently and Totally Disabled It phases out entirely at $17,500 of AGI for singles and $25,000 for couples. In practice, only the lowest-income retirees end up with anything left after the reductions, so it’s worth checking but rarely the answer.