Tax Notes & News
Updates, analysis, and notes for federal and state/provincial tax information. Use the links below to jump to the live Tax Tables for each jurisdiction, or read our in-depth articles.
Federal
Federal income tax brackets, capital gains, and standard deduction. Our tables are driven by the same data used in the calculator.
Recent notes
Six new federal deductions — tips, overtime, car loan interest, senior bonus, expanded SALT cap, and Trump Accounts — all effective for 2026.
TCJA rates preserved by the OBBB: 10%–37% brackets with inflation-adjusted thresholds. Standard deduction $16,100 single / $32,200 MFJ.
The OBBB made the elevated estate/gift tax exemption permanent at $15M per person ($30M per couple), indexed to inflation.
Inflation-adjusted federal brackets and standard deduction for tax year 2025.
IRS Revenue Procedure 23-34: 2024 inflation-adjusted brackets and standard deduction for single filers.
Federal articles
The first filing season under Executive Order 14247's paper-check cutoff is on the record: over 98% of the 57 million refunds the IRS issued through March 20, 2026 went out by direct deposit, and the check now survives only as a six-week fallback behind a CP53E notice.
The 2025 Schedule 1-A computes one modified AGI, runs the tip, overtime, car-loan-interest, and senior deductions through four separate phase-outs, and sends a single total to Form 1040 line 13b. The total stacks on the standard deduction or itemized deductions, and adjusted gross income never moves.
For tax years 2025 through 2028, workers in listed tipped occupations can deduct up to $25,000 of reported tips, and hourly workers up to $12,500 of FLSA overtime premium. Only the half-time slice of overtime counts, the deductions come off after AGI, and a married worker must file jointly to claim either.
For tax year 2026 the SALT deduction cap is $40,400. It shrinks by 30 cents per dollar of modified AGI above $505,000, reaching its $10,000 floor at $606,334, and which states' filers see any of it depends on whose tax bills cleared the old cap.
The 2026 brackets are the TCJA's, inflation-adjusted and made permanent by OBBBA §70101. A single filer's 22% bracket starts at $50,400 of taxable income, the standard deduction is $16,100, and the top rate stays 37%.
State & Local Analysis
In-depth articles on state-specific tax situations, legislative changes, and interstate comparisons.
Thirteen states cut their top personal income tax rate for 2026 and one raised it — Maine, by two points, through a surcharge that reaches nobody under a million dollars. The median bill for a $65,000 single filer fell about $110.
Twenty states lowered their top personal income tax rate over five years, three raised theirs, and four abandoned graduated brackets entirely. Every figure here is computed from TaxMath's own rate tables.
Missouri now subtracts 100% of federally reported capital gains, the first full exemption in a state that still taxes wages. Nine states give a gain a defined discount, eight tax nothing at all, Washington taxes only gains above its deduction, and California stacks up to 13.3% on top of the federal 23.8% ceiling.
Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming charge no broad-based personal income tax for 2026, but only four of the nine zeros sit behind a constitutional ban. Washington's is scheduled to end: a 9.9% tax on income above $1 million takes effect January 1, 2028.
Since July 1, 2026, the luxury surcharge on a $150,000 car in Washington is $3,840: 8% of the price above a $102,000 exempt amount that steps up every July. A boat at the same price owes a flat 0.5%, and the 10% aircraft tax was repealed before its first day.
Illinois's overhaul of apportionment and foreign-income deductions lives on corporate schedules; the IL-1040 still charges a flat 4.95%, unchanged since July 2017 and constitutionally required to stay non-graduated. What moves an Illinois bill is the exemption allowance ($2,925 for 2026, gone in one step above $250,000 of AGI), the retirement subtraction, and the 5% property tax credit.
Planning & Explainers
Practical guides on tax planning strategies, new forms, and how to make the most of the 2026 tax changes.
Public Law 119-21 repealed the TCJA phase-down before the 20% year arrived: property acquired after January 19, 2025 gets a permanent 100% first-year write-off. The 2026 Section 179 cap is $2,560,000, and the 20% QBI deduction no longer expires.
Itemizing pays for tax year 2026 once Schedule A clears $16,100 single or $32,200 joint. Under the $40,400 SALT cap, a single homeowner's state and local taxes clear that line by themselves in New Jersey and Illinois; in Texas and Florida the standard deduction usually still wins.
Taxpayers 65 and older deduct an extra $6,000 each through 2028, stacked on the standard deduction and the age-65 addition: for 2026 the layers total $24,150 for a single filer and $47,500 for a couple who are both 65. Each $6,000 shrinks by six cents per dollar of modified AGI over $75,000 ($150,000 joint) and is gone at $175,000 ($250,000 joint).
For tax years 2025 through 2028, up to $10,000 a year of interest on the loan behind a new, US-assembled, personal-use vehicle comes off taxable income on Schedule 1-A, stacked on the standard deduction. The assembly test is settled per VIN, and past $100,000 of MAGI the deduction shrinks by $200 for each $1,000.
Section 530A builds the Trump Account as a traditional IRA for children: a one-time $1,000 Treasury deposit for children born 2025 through 2028, after-tax contributions capped at $5,000 a year, and ordinary income tax on the earnings at withdrawal. Growth is tax-deferred, and the widely reported 'tax-free' label is wrong.
US states
Select a state to open its rate tables for 2026.
Canadian provinces
Select a province to open its rate tables. Federal (Canada) and provincial brackets are available on the Tax Tables page.