DalsnaFinance › Tax Brackets
For 2026 the standard deduction is $16,100 for a single filer and $32,200 for a married couple filing jointly. Seven marginal rates still apply, from 10% to 37%, and the top rate does not begin until $640,600 of taxable income for a single filer or $768,700 for a couple filing jointly.
| Standard deduction — single, or married filing separately | $16,100 | |
|---|---|---|
| Standard deduction — married filing jointly | $32,200 | |
| Standard deduction — head of household | $24,150 | |
| Estate tax basic exclusion | $15,000,000 | Per person, for estates of decedents dying in 2026 |
| Annual gift tax exclusion | $19,000 | Per recipient, per year |
| 10% | $0 – $12,400 | |
|---|---|---|
| 12% | $12,400 – $50,400 | |
| 22% | $50,400 – $105,700 | |
| 24% | $105,700 – $201,775 | |
| 32% | $201,775 – $256,225 | |
| 35% | $256,225 – $640,600 | |
| 37% | Over $640,600 |
| 10% | $0 – $24,800 | |
|---|---|---|
| 12% | $24,800 – $100,800 | |
| 22% | $100,800 – $211,400 | |
| 24% | $211,400 – $403,550 | |
| 32% | $403,550 – $512,450 | |
| 35% | $512,450 – $768,700 | |
| 37% | Over $768,700 |
Being 'in the 24% bracket' does not mean 24% of your income goes in tax. The rates apply to slices. A single filer with $120,000 of taxable income pays 10% on the first $12,400, 12% on the part between $12,400 and $50,400, 22% on the part up to $105,700, and 24% only on the roughly $14,300 above that.
This is why a raise cannot leave you worse off. Crossing into a higher bracket changes the rate on the additional income alone; every dollar below the threshold is still taxed exactly as it was.
The rate on that last slice is the marginal rate, and it is the one that matters for a decision — what an extra dollar of income costs, or what a deduction saves. The share of total income actually paid, the effective rate, is always lower.
The brackets apply to taxable income, which is what remains after deductions. The standard deduction is subtracted before the table above is reached, so a single filer with $60,000 of gross income and no other adjustments has $43,900 of taxable income, not $60,000 — and none of it reaches the 22% bracket.
Itemising replaces the standard deduction rather than adding to it, and is only worth doing when the itemised total exceeds $16,100 for a single filer or $32,200 for a couple. Those thresholds are why the large majority of filers take the standard deduction.
The IRS publishes each year's inflation adjustments in the autumn of the year before. The table above governs income earned during calendar 2026 and the return filed in early 2027 — not the return being filed now, which uses the 2025 figures.
Thresholds are adjusted annually for inflation, so they move every year even when the rates themselves do not. The seven rates have been 10, 12, 22, 24, 32, 35 and 37 per cent for several years; what changes is where each one starts.
These are the federal statutory figures published by the IRS. They are not the whole of a tax bill: state and local income taxes, payroll taxes, the alternative minimum tax, credits and the treatment of capital gains all sit outside this table.
This is general information rather than tax advice. Anything turning on filing status, dependants, self-employment or investment income is worth putting to a tax professional, and the IRS publications linked below are the authority.
Figures sourced from IRS — Tax inflation adjustments for tax year 2026, IRS — Revenue Procedure 2025-32.
Figures on this page apply to 2026 and were last checked against the source publications on 2026-09-11. This page is general information, not financial, tax or legal advice.