2026 Tax Brackets and Standard Deduction for Retirees

The 2026 brackets

The IRS adjusts the tax brackets for inflation every fall. The 2026 figures were published in Revenue Procedure 2025-32 and announced on October 9, 2025 (IRS news release). They apply to income you earn during 2026 and report on the return due in April 2027.

The brackets are applied to taxable income, which is your income after the standard deduction (or itemized deductions). Each rate applies only to the slice of income inside that bracket, not to all of it.

Single filers

Married filing jointly (and surviving spouses)

Head of household and married filing separately tables are on the 2026 tax brackets data page. Both come from the same Revenue Procedure 2025-32.

The 2026 standard deduction

Most retirees take the standard deduction rather than itemizing. For 2026 (Rev. Proc. 2025-32):

The extra amount at 65 or older

If you are 65 or older on the last day of the year (the IRS treats you as 65 on the day before your 65th birthday), you add an additional amount:

The same additional amount applies again if you are legally blind, so a single filer who is both 65 and blind adds $4,100. A married couple where both spouses are 65 or older adds $3,300, for a total standard deduction of $35,500 (all figures from Rev. Proc. 2025-32).

The separate $6,000 senior deduction

The 2025 tax law created a temporary deduction for taxpayers 65 and older, in addition to the amounts above. Rev. Proc. 2025-32 notes it as a separate deduction of $6,000 for tax years 2025 through 2028, subject to income limits. It is not part of the standard deduction and is not included in the examples below. Check the instructions for your 2026 return, or ask your preparer, to see whether you qualify.

What this means for you

The brackets are only half the picture; the deduction determines how much of your income reaches them. Two examples, using the tables above from Rev. Proc. 2025-32. Both leave Social Security benefits out of the income figure for simplicity; the taxable portion of your benefits, if any, is added to income before the deduction.

Example 1: Single retiree, age 67, with $50,000 of pension and IRA income.

1. Standard deduction: $16,100 plus $2,050 for age = $18,150 (Rev. Proc. 2025-32).
2. Taxable income: $50,000 minus $18,150 = $31,850.
3. Tax: this falls in the 12% bracket. $1,240 plus 12% of ($31,850 minus $12,400 = $19,450). 12% of $19,450 is $2,334. Total tax: $3,574.
4. Effective rate: $3,574 divided by $50,000 is about 7.1%, even though the top bracket rate is 12% (single filer table).

Example 2: Married couple, both 70, with $90,000 of pension, interest and RMD income.

1. Standard deduction: $32,200 plus $1,650 times two = $35,500 (Rev. Proc. 2025-32).
2. Taxable income: $90,000 minus $35,500 = $54,500.
3. Tax: $2,480 plus 12% of ($54,500 minus $24,800 = $29,700). 12% of $29,700 is $3,564. Total tax: $6,044.
4. Room in the 12% bracket: the bracket ends at $100,800 of taxable income, so they can add $46,300 of income (a Roth conversion, for example) before any dollar is taxed at 22% (joint filer table).

Example 3: Same couple, but one spouse dies in 2026. The survivor still files jointly for 2026, with both age additions if the deceased spouse was 65 or older at death. The following year the survivor files single (unless a dependent child qualifies them as a surviving spouse), the deduction drops to $16,100 plus $2,050, and the 12% bracket tops out at $50,400 instead of $100,800. The same $90,000 of income would produce taxable income of $71,850, of which $21,450 is taxed at 22% (Rev. Proc. 2025-32). This “widow’s penalty” is a reason many couples convert some traditional IRA money to Roth while both spouses are alive.

How RMDs and Social Security interact with the brackets

Two things that fill up brackets faster than retirees expect:

Required minimum distributions. Starting at age 73 (for people born 1951 through 1959), you must withdraw a set share of your traditional IRA and 401(k) each year, and every dollar is ordinary income. At 73 the divisor is 26.5, so a $500,000 balance produces an RMD of about $18,868 (Uniform Lifetime Table). Add that to Example 2 and the couple’s taxable income rises from $54,500 to about $73,368, still inside the 12% bracket but closer to the top. The RMD rules article explains the timing, including why delaying a first RMD to April 1 can double up income in one year.

Social Security benefits. Part of your benefit can be taxable depending on your total income. The 2026 COLA raised the estimated average retired-worker benefit to $2,071 a month, or $24,852 a year (SSA fact sheet). The IRS worksheet in the Form 1040 instructions determines how much of that counts. The thresholds are set by law and are not adjusted for inflation; check the worksheet rather than a rule of thumb.

Medicare premiums. Your 2026 taxable income does not affect your 2026 Medicare premium, but it will set your 2028 Part B premium, because Medicare looks back two years. Large one-time income in 2026 can trigger a surcharge in 2028. See the Part B premium and IRMAA article.

Standard deduction or itemize?

You itemize only if your deductible expenses add up to more than the standard deduction. For a married couple both over 65, that bar is $35,500 in 2026. Mortgage interest, state and local taxes (subject to the federal cap), charitable gifts and medical expenses above the income-based floor are the main itemized items. Most retirees who have paid off a mortgage do not clear the bar, which is why the age addition matters: it is money off your taxable income with no receipts required.

One exception worth knowing: if you give to charity and are 70½ or older, a qualified charitable distribution from your IRA is excluded from income entirely. That is better than an itemized deduction, because it lowers adjusted gross income, which also affects the taxable share of Social Security and future Medicare premiums.

Step by step: estimate your 2026 tax

1. Add up ordinary income: pensions, IRA and 401(k) withdrawals, interest, wages, the taxable part of Social Security. Leave out Roth withdrawals and qualified charitable distributions.
2. Subtract the standard deduction for your filing status, plus the age addition if you are 65 or older.
3. Find your bracket row in the table for your filing status and apply the formula.
4. Subtract credits and withholding. Tax withheld from pensions, IRA distributions and Social Security counts as paid.
5. Compare with your withholding. If the estimate is well above what is being withheld, ask your IRA custodian or pension to withhold more, or make an estimated payment. The final 2026 estimated payment is due in mid-January 2027.

Withholding directly from a December RMD is a common way to catch up all at once, because the IRS treats withholding as paid evenly through the year.

Other 2026 figures from the same IRS release

• Alternative minimum tax exemption: $90,100 for unmarried filers and $140,200 for joint filers.
• Estate tax basic exclusion: $15,000,000 per person.
• Earned income tax credit maximum: $8,231 with three or more qualifying children; $664 with none.

All from Rev. Proc. 2025-32.

When the 2027 figures will be announced

The IRS releases the next year’s brackets and standard deduction each fall. The 2026 figures came out October 9, 2025 (IR-2025-103), and the 2026 retirement plan limits followed on November 13, 2025. As of the date of this article, the 2027 figures have not been released; expect them between mid-October and early November 2026. The 2026 tax brackets data page will be updated the day they are published. For refund timing on the return you file in early 2027, see the IRS refund schedule.

This article is for general information only and is not financial, tax, legal or insurance advice. Found an error? See our corrections policy.