2026 Federal Tax Parameters — Brackets, Deductions & Limits

2026 Federal Income Tax Brackets

The United States uses a progressive income tax: each rate applies only to the slice of taxable income inside its bracket, not to your entire income. The brackets below are the 2026 inflation adjustments published by the IRS in Revenue Procedure 2025-32. To use the table, subtract your standard deduction (next section) from your income, find which row your remaining taxable income falls into for your filing status, and remember that income above each threshold is taxed at the next rate up — your marginal rate is the rate of the highest bracket you reach, not a flat tax on everything.

Two practical notes. First, the brackets differ substantially by filing status — joint filers enjoy wider brackets at every rate except the top, which is why a married couple with one earner often pays less than two single filers with the same combined income. Second, these are the ordinary-income brackets; qualified dividends and long-term capital gains are taxed under the separate schedule further down this page. Source: IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32 (2026 inflation adjustments).

2026 Standard Deduction

The standard deduction is the flat amount you subtract from adjusted gross income before brackets apply. Roughly 90% of filers take it instead of itemizing. The 2026 figures below include the enhancement enacted in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which is why they are larger than a pure inflation adjustment would produce.

Itemize only if your deductible expenses — mortgage interest, state and local taxes (capped at $10,000), charitable gifts, and casualty losses — exceed the figure for your status. Taxpayers aged 65 or older, or blind, add an extra amount on top of the base deduction. Source: IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32, including the OBBBA enhancement.

2026 Long-Term Capital Gains Thresholds

Assets held longer than one year are taxed at preferential rates of 0%, 15%, or 20%. Which rate applies depends on your total taxable income — ordinary income fills the lower brackets first, and your long-term gains stack on top of it. That means a single filer with wages near the 0%/15% line pays 0% on the first few thousand dollars of gains and 15% above it, rather than the ordinary bracket rate.

These thresholds are the taxable-income breakpoints, not the sale price, and they are separate from the ordinary brackets above. High earners should also check the 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax (see the FICA section below for its threshold), which can apply on top of the capital gains rate. Source: IRS Publication 550 and Revenue Procedure 2025-32 §3.03.

2026 Social Security Wage Base & FICA Rates

FICA taxes fund Social Security and Medicare. The Social Security component stops once your year-to-date wages reach the taxable maximum set each year by the Social Security Administration; Medicare has no cap. In 2026 the wage base is $184,500, so high earners pay the 6.2% employee share up to that ceiling before the component cuts off for the rest of the year.

The 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax threshold of $200,000 (single) and $250,000 (married filing jointly, combined wages) is fixed in statute and has never been inflation-indexed — the same levels have applied since 2013. The identical thresholds govern the 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax under IRC §1411. Source: SSA 2026 fact sheet / OACT contribution and benefit base; IRC §3101 and §1411.

2026 Retirement Account Limits

The employee deferral limit for 401(k)-style plans is $24,500 in 2026. The catch-up rules deserve special attention: workers aged 50 and over can defer up to $32,500 in total, while the SECURE 2.0 enhanced catch-up for ages 60–63 replaces the standard catch-up with a larger $11,250 — the two are not additive. The overall §415(c) ceiling on combined employee and employer contributions is $72,000.

The IRA limit of $7,500 for 2026 is announced in the same IRS Notice 2025-67 that sets the 401(k) figures; taxpayers 50 and over add the IRA catch-up on top of it. Remember that IRA deductibility phases out at higher incomes when you or your spouse is covered by a workplace plan, while Roth IRA eligibility phases out entirely at higher income levels — the contribution limit itself does not vary with income. Source: IRS Notice 2025-67 (November 13, 2025).

2026 HSA & FSA Limits

Health Savings Accounts require an HSA-qualified high-deductible health plan and offer a rare triple tax advantage: deductible contributions, tax-free growth, and tax-free withdrawals for qualified medical expenses. Health FSAs are employer-owned arrangements with a much lower limit but a useful carryover provision.

The HSA catch-up is an add-on to the applicable limit, and spouses with family coverage must share a single account for the family limit rather than each claiming it. FSA carryover lets you roll up to $680 of unused funds into the next plan year if your employer adopts the carryover option (instead of a grace period). Source: IRS Notice 2026-05 (HSA) and IRS Notice 2025-17 (health FSA).

2026 Standard Mileage Rate

For business use of a personal vehicle, the IRS standard mileage rate for 2026 is 70 cents per mile. Multiply your documented business miles by the rate and deduct the result on Schedule C — no actual-expense record keeping required, though you must keep a contemporaneous mileage log showing date, destination, purpose, and odometer readings. The rate is set annually by the IRS and covers depreciation, gasoline, insurance, and maintenance in a single per-mile figure. You cannot switch to the standard rate later if you first claimed actual expenses with accelerated depreciation on that vehicle. Source: IRS standard mileage rates announcement for 2026.

Self-Employment Tax Quick Reference

Self-employed workers pay both halves of FICA as a combined 15.3% self-employment tax: 12.4% Social Security on net earnings up to the $184,500 wage base, plus 2.9% Medicare with no cap. The tax is computed on 92.35% of net profit — a statutory factor that approximates the employer half a W-2 worker never pays out of pocket — and half of the resulting SE tax is deductible above the line on Schedule 1 of Form 1040. The 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax applies to SE earnings above $200,000 (single) or $250,000 (joint).

For the full worked example ($80,000 of net profit, step by step), the QBI deduction interaction, and quarterly due dates, see our complete 2026 self-employment tax rate table. To estimate your combined income tax, SE tax, and quarterly payments, use the Freelancer Tax Calculator.