What Is the Standard Deduction If You Are a Dependent?

If someone else can claim you as a dependent, your standard deduction for a dependent in 2026 is the greater of $1,350 or your earned income plus $450, and it cannot go above the regular standard deduction for your filing status, which is $16,100 for a single filer.¹ That formula replaces the full standard deduction a non-dependent would get, and it applies the moment you check the “Someone can claim you as a dependent” box on Form 1040, whether or not that person actually claims you.

How the Formula Works in Practice

Run the two numbers and take the bigger one, then stop at the cap.

A teenager with $4,800 in summer wages: $4,800 + $450 = $5,250. That beats the $1,350 floor, so the deduction is $5,250.
A dependent with $200 in babysitting money: $200 + $450 = $650. That falls below $1,350, so the deduction stays at $1,350.
A dependent earning $20,000 at a full-time job: $20,000 + $450 = $20,450, but the single-filer cap pulls it back to $16,100.

Most dependents with little or no job income land on the $1,350 floor. Dependents who work meaningful hours shelter more, up to the cap.

What Counts as Earned Income

Only earned income feeds the formula. Earned income means pay for work: wages, salaries, tips, professional fees, and taxable scholarship or fellowship amounts. Unearned income (interest, dividends, capital gains, unemployment compensation, trust distributions) does not get the $450 add-on.²

That distinction can be worth thousands of dollars. A dependent with $8,000 in dividends and no job income gets only the $1,350 floor, leaving $6,650 exposed. The same dependent earning $8,000 in wages instead would get an $8,450 deduction and owe no income tax on it.

Extra Amount if You’re 65 or Older or Blind

A dependent who is 65 or older or legally blind adds a separate standard deduction amount on top of the figure the formula produces. For 2026, that add-on is $2,050 if the dependent is unmarried and $1,650 if married. Being both 65 or older and blind doubles the amount.¹

So a single, blind dependent with $2,900 in wages gets $2,900 + $450 = $3,350, plus $2,050 for blindness, for a total standard deduction of $5,400.²

When Being a Dependent Triggers the Smaller Deduction

The restricted formula applies whenever you qualify as another taxpayer’s dependent under federal rules. There are two categories. A qualifying child must meet tests for relationship, age (generally under 19, or under 24 if a full-time student), residency, and support. A qualifying relative must fall below a gross income limit and get more than half of their support from the person claiming them.³

Your filing status stays whatever it would otherwise be. Only the deduction amount changes.

Self-Employment Changes the Picture

Freelance work, gig income, and small business profits count as earned income for the formula. Net self-employment earnings (revenue minus business expenses) get added to any wages. A dependent with $7,000 in wages and a $3,000 business loss has $4,000 of earned income on the worksheet.²

Self-employment also carries its own filing trigger. If your net self-employment earnings are $400 or more, you have to file a return and pay self-employment tax for Social Security and Medicare, no matter what the regular income thresholds say.⁴

Kiddie Tax on Investment Income

The small standard deduction isn’t the only reason unearned income hurts. Once a dependent’s unearned income passes $2,700, the excess is taxed at the parent’s marginal rate if the parent’s rate is higher. This applies to children under 18, 18-year-olds whose earned income doesn’t exceed half their support, and full-time students aged 19 through 23 under the same support test.⁵

The first $1,350 of unearned income is covered by the standard deduction, the next $1,350 is taxed at the child’s own rate, and anything above $2,700 is pulled onto the parent’s bracket. A dependent with $5,000 of dividend income has $2,300 taxed at the parent’s rate. The calculation goes on Form 8615, attached to the child’s return.⁶

When a Dependent Has to File at All

Filing requirements for a dependent track directly to the deduction numbers. For 2026, a single dependent who is not 65 or older and not blind generally has to file if:

Unearned income is more than $1,350, or
Earned income is more than $16,100, or
Gross income (from both types combined) exceeds the larger of $1,350 or earned income (up to $15,650) plus $450.

Dependents who are 65 or older or blind get higher thresholds because of the extra deduction amount. A single blind dependent’s unearned income filing threshold for 2025, for example, is $3,350 instead of $1,350.²¹

Even if filing isn’t required, file anyway when an employer withheld federal income tax from a paycheck. A return is the only way to get that money back.

Itemizing Instead

Nothing forces a dependent to take the standard deduction. If deductible expenses on Schedule A add up to more than the limited standard deduction, itemizing wins. The IRS flags this as a situation worth checking precisely because the dependent standard deduction is small.⁷ Few dependents have the mortgage interest, state taxes, or charitable giving to clear that bar, but a dependent with large medical bills or casualty losses from a federally declared disaster can come out ahead. The comparison is quick.

1
IRS. Rev. Proc. 2025-32
2
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 501 (2025), Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 152 – Dependent Defined
4
Internal Revenue Service. Self-Employment Tax (Social Security and Medicare Taxes)
5
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 553, Tax on a Child’s Investment and Other Unearned Income (Kiddie Tax)
6
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8615 (2025)
7
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 501, Should I Itemize?