§ III

Chapter III

Filed under: brackets, single, MFJ, head of household, standard deduction.

The 2026 Federal Tax Brackets

Seven brackets, three filing statuses, one inflation adjustment a year. The full reference tables, plus standard deductions.

§ 1

How brackets work

Brackets describe slices of taxable income, not gross income. Subtract your deduction first.

The bracket numbers below describe taxable income, the figure left after subtracting the standard deduction (or itemized deductions) and any pre-tax contributions to 401(k)s, traditional IRAs, HSAs, and similar accounts. The brackets are rates on slices: only the income inside a bracket is taxed at that bracket's rate.

§ 22026 Bracket Tables

Single filer

RateMinMax
10%$0$12,400
12%$12,401$50,400
22%$50,401$105,700
24%$105,701$201,775
32%$201,776$256,225
35%$256,226$640,600
37%$640,601and up

Married filing jointly

RateMinMax
10%$0$24,800
12%$24,801$100,800
22%$100,801$211,400
24%$211,401$403,550
32%$403,551$512,450
35%$512,451$768,700
37%$768,701and up

Head of household

RateMinMax
10%$0$17,700
12%$17,701$67,450
22%$67,451$105,700
24%$105,701$201,775
32%$201,776$256,200
35%$256,201$640,600
37%$640,601and up

§ 32026 Standard Deduction

Single

$16,100

Married filing jointly

$32,200

Head of household

$24,150

Official 2026 amounts from IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32 (released October 2025).

§ 4What Changed from 2025

The seven bracket rates are unchanged: 10, 12, 22, 24, 32, 35, and 37. Inflation indexing pushes each threshold upward by roughly 2.7 percent for 2026. The standard deduction rises $350 for single filers (to $16,100) and $700 for married joint filers (to $32,200) over the 2025 figures. There are no new brackets, no new credits, and no new surtaxes for the 2026 tax year.

One unrelated change worth noting: the Social Security wage base rises to $184,500 in 2026 (up from $176,100 in 2025), which shifts the regressive portion of FICA slightly higher. The Additional Medicare threshold ($200,000 single, $250,000 MFJ) is not indexed and remains where it has been since 2013.

§ 5Historical Context

The current seven-bracket structure was set by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and was originally scheduled to sunset after 2025. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), signed July 2025, removed that sunset and made the 10, 12, 22, 24, 32, 35, and 37 percent rate structure permanent, locking in the larger standard deduction at the same time. The pre-2018 brackets of 10, 15, 25, 28, 33, 35, and 39.6 percent will not return on the previously legislated schedule.