How much the IRS lets most people subtract before tax (2026)

Pick how you file and whether you are 65 or older or blind. We look up the official dollar. Official figure lookup, not tax advice.

How you file, age 65 or older, blind, and whether someone else can claim you are required.

How do you file this year? Just you is what the IRS calls single. You and a spouse together is married filing jointly. Married, filing your own return is married filing separately. Head of household and surviving spouse use those IRS names. Surviving spouse is a widow or widower who can use the same amount as a married couple filing together.

Are you 65 or older this year? If you are 65 or older, the IRS adds an extra amount. That extra is $1,650, or $2,050 if you are unmarried and not a surviving spouse.

Are you blind? Being blind adds the same extra as being 65 or older. Age and blind can both apply.

Can someone else claim you as a dependent? If someone else can claim you, the IRS limits this starting amount to the greater of $1,350 or $450 plus what you earned from work.

Sources

Dollars on this page come only from these official links. Last opened 2026-08-25. If a case is not on those pages, we do not invent a dollar.

Source	What we use	Official page
IRS 2026 inflation newsroom post	2026 amount $16,100 just you or married filing your own return; $32,200 you and a spouse together or surviving spouse; $24,150 head of household.	IRS releases tax inflation adjustments for tax year 2026
Rev. Proc. 2025-32 (PDF)	Same 2026 amounts. If someone else can claim you, the starting amount cannot go past the greater of $1,350 or $450 plus what you earned. Extra if 65 or older or blind: $1,650, or $2,050 if unmarried and not a surviving spouse.	Rev. Proc. 2025-32 (PDF)

What this number is

This is the amount the IRS lets most people subtract before tax, instead of listing every deduction.
Just you or married, filing your own return is $16,100. You and a spouse together or surviving spouse is $32,200. Head of household is $24,150. Those are the official 2026 amounts.
If you are 65 or older or blind, the IRS adds $1,650, or $2,050 if you are unmarried and not a surviving spouse. Age and blind can both apply. If you file with a spouse, each of you can get those extras.
If someone else can claim you, the starting amount is the greater of $1,350 or $450 plus what you earned from work, and it cannot go past the usual amount for how you file. The extra for age or blind still adds on top.
The IRS newsroom mentions a separate senior deduction from the 2025 law. Those two pages do not publish a dollar for it, so we do not add one.

This is an official IRS figure lookup, not tax advice and not a filing.