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The IRS has released the annual inflation adjustments for 2026 for the income tax rate tables, plus more than 60 other tax provisions. The IRS makes these cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) each year to reflect inflation.

2026 Income Tax Brackets

For 2026, the highest income tax bracket of 37 percent applies when taxable income hits:

$768,700 for married individuals filing jointly and surviving spouses,
$640,600 for single individuals and heads of households,
$384,350 for married individuals filing separately, and
$16,000 for estates and trusts.

2026 Standard Deduction

The standard deduction for 2026 is:

$32,200 for married individuals filing jointly and surviving spouses,
$24,150 for heads of households, and
$16,100 for single individuals and married individuals filing separately.

The standard deduction for a dependent is limited to the greater of:

$1,350 or
the sum of $450, plus the dependent’s earned income.

Individuals who are blind or at least 65 years old get an additional standard deduction of:

$1,650 for married taxpayers and surviving spouses, or
$2,050 for other taxpayers.

Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) Exemption for 2026

The AMT exemption for 2026 is:

$140,200 for married individuals filing jointly and surviving spouses,
$90,100 for single individuals and heads of households,
$70,100 for married individuals filing separately, and
$31,400 for estates and trusts.

The exemption amounts phase out in 2026 when AMTI exceeds:

$1,000,000 for married individuals filing jointly and surviving spouses,
$500,000 for single individuals, heads of households, and married individuals filing separately, and
$104,800 for estates and trusts.

Expensing Code Sec. 179 Property in 2026

For tax years beginning in 2026, taxpayers can expense up to $2,560,000 in section 179 property. However, this dollar limit is reduced when the cost of section 179 property placed in service during the year exceeds $4,090,000.

Estate and Gift Tax Adjustments for 2026

The following inflation adjustments apply to federal estate and gift taxes in 2026:

the gift tax exclusion is $19,000 per donee, or $194,000 for gifts to spouses who are not U.S. citizens;
the federal estate tax exclusion is $15,000,000; and
the maximum reduction for real property under the special valuation method is $1,460,000.

2026 Inflation Adjustments for Other Tax Items

The maximum foreign earned income exclusion amount in 2026 is $132,900.

The IRS also provided inflation-adjusted amounts for the:

adoption credit,
earned income credit,
excludable interest on U.S. savings bonds used for education,
various penalties, and
many other provisions.

Effective Date of 2026 Adjustments

These inflation adjustments generally apply to tax years beginning in 2026, so they affect most returns that will be filed in 2027. However, some specified figures apply to transactions or events in calendar year 2026.

Rev. Proc. 2025-32

IR-2025-103

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The IRS has released the 2025-2026 special per diem rates. Taxpayers use the per diem rates to substantiate certain expenses incurred while traveling away from home. These special per diem rates include:

the special transportation industry meal and incidental expenses (M&IE) rates,
the rate for the incidental expenses only deduction,
and the rates and list of high-cost localities for purposes of the high-low substantiation method.

Transportation Industry Special Per Diem Rates

The special M&IE rates for taxpayers in the transportation industry are:

$80 for any locality of travel in the continental United States (CONUS), and
$86 for any locality of travel outside the continental United States (OCONUS).

Incidental Expenses Only Rate

The rate is $5 per day for any CONUS or OCONUS travel for the incidental expenses only deduction.

High-Low Substantiation Method

For purposes of the high-low substantiation method, the 2025-2026 special per diem rates are:

$319 for travel to any high-cost locality, and
$225 for travel to any other locality within CONUS.

The amount treated as paid for meals is:

$86 for travel to any high-cost locality, and
$74 for travel to any other locality within CONUS

Instead of the meal and incidental expenses only substantiation method, taxpayers may use:

$86 for travel to any high-cost locality, and
$74 for travel to any other locality within CONUS.

Taxpayers using the high-low method must comply with Rev. Proc. 2019-48, I.R.B. 2019-51, 1392. That procedure provides the rules for using a per diem rate to substantiate the amount of ordinary and necessary business expenses paid or incurred while traveling away from home.

Notice 2024-68, I.R.B. 2024-41, 729 is superseded.

Notice 2025-54

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The IRS has issued transitional guidance for reporting certain interest payments received on specified passenger vehicle loans made in the course of a trade or business during calendar year 2025. The guidance applies to reporting obligations under new Code Sec. 6050AA, enacted as part of the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act (P.L. 119-21).

Under Code Sec. 163(h)(4), as amended, "qualified passenger vehicle loan interest" is deductible by an individual for tax years beginning in 2025 through 2028. Code Sec. 6050AA requires any person engaged in a trade or business who receives $600 or more in such interest from an individual in a calendar year to file an information return with the IRS and statements to the borrowers. The information return must include the borrower’s identifying information, the amount of interest paid, loan details, and vehicle information.

Recognizing that lenders may need additional time to update their systems and that the Service must design new reporting forms, the Treasury Department and the IRS have granted temporary relief. For calendar year 2025 only, recipients may satisfy their reporting obligations by providing a statement to each borrower by January 31, 2026, indicating the total amount of interest received in calendar year 2025 on a specified passenger vehicle loan. This information may be delivered electronically, through online portals, or via annual or monthly statements.

No penalties under Code Sec. 6721 or 6722 will be imposed for 2025 if recipients comply with this transitional reporting procedure. The notice is effective for interest received during calendar year 2025. The IRS estimates that approximately 35,800 respondents will issue about 8 million responses annually, with an average burden of 0.25 hours per response.

Notice 2025-57

IR 2025-105

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The IRS issued updates to frequently asked questions (FAQs) about Form 1099-K, Payment Card and Third-Party Network Transactions (Code Sec. 6050W). The updates reflect changes made under the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), which reinstated the prior reporting threshold for third-party settlement organizations (TPSOs) and provided clarifications on filing requirements, taxpayer responsibilities, and penalty relief provisions. The updates supersede those issued in FS-2024-03. More information is available here.

Form 1099-K Reporting Threshold

Under the OBBB, the reporting threshold for TPSOs has been restored to the pre-ARPA level, requiring a Form 1099-K to be issued only when the gross amount of payments exceeds $20,000 and the number of transactions exceeds 200. The lower $600 threshold established by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) no longer applies. The IRS noted that while the federal threshold has increased, some states may impose lower thresholds, and TPSOs must comply with those state-level reporting requirements.

Taxpayer Guidance

The FAQs explain that a Form 1099-K reports payments received through payment cards (credit, debit, or stored-value cards) or payment apps and online marketplaces used for selling goods or providing services. All income remains taxable unless excluded by law, even if not reported on a Form 1099-K.

If a Form 1099-K is incorrect or issued in error, taxpayers should contact the filer listed on the form to request a correction. If a corrected form cannot be obtained in time, taxpayers may adjust the reporting on Schedule 1 (Form 1040) by offsetting the erroneous amount when filing their return.

New Clarifications and Examples

The updated FAQs include expanded examples to help taxpayers properly determine income and filing obligations:

Sales of personal items – How to determine taxable gain or nondeductible loss on items sold through online platforms?
Crowdfunding proceeds – When contributions are taxable income versus nontaxable gifts.
Backup withholding – How failure to provide a valid taxpayer identification number (TIN) can result in withholding under Code Sec. 3406?
Multiple Forms 1099-K – How to report combined or duplicate forms properly using Schedule 1 (Form 1040)?

Third-Party Filer Responsibilities

The FAQs reaffirm that merchant acquiring entities and TPSOs are responsible for preparing, filing, and furnishing Form 1099-K statements. There is no de minimis exception for payment-card transactions. Entities that submit payment instructions remain subject to penalties under Code Sec. 6721 and 6722 for failing to file or furnish correct information returns. TPSOs are not required to include Merchant Category Codes (MCCs), while merchant acquiring entities must do so where applicable.

Ticket Sales and Executive Order 14254

The updated FAQs also address Executive Order 14254, Combating Unfair Practices in the Live Entertainment Market, issued in March 2025. The IRS clarified that income from ticket sales and resales is includible in gross income and subject to reporting. Payment settlement entities facilitating these sales must issue Form 1099-K when federal thresholds are met, and non-PSE payors may be required to issue Form 1099-MISC or Form 1099-NEC for payments of $2,000 or more made after December 31, 2025.

Reliance and Penalty Relief

Although the FAQs are not published in the Internal Revenue Bulletin (IRB) and cannot be used as legal precedent, the IRS confirmed that taxpayers who reasonably and in good faith rely on them will not be subject to penalties that allow for a reasonable-cause standard, including negligence or accuracy-related penalties, if such reliance results in an underpayment of tax.

FS-2025-8

IR-2025-107

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For 2026, the Social Security wage cap will be $184,500, and Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits will increase by 2.8 percent. These changes reflect cost-of-living adjustments to account for inflation.

Wage Cap for Social Security Tax

The Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) tax on wages is 7.65 percent each for the employee and the employer. FICA tax has two components:

a 6.2 percent social security tax, also known as old age, survivors, and disability insurance (OASDI); and
a 1.45 percent Medicare tax, also known as hospital insurance (HI).

For self-employed workers, the Self-Employment tax is 15.3 percent, consisting of:

a 12.4 percent OASDI tax; and
a 2.9 percent HI tax.

OASDI tax applies only up to a wage base, which includes most wages and self-employment income up to the annual wage cap.

For 2026, the wage base is $184,500. Thus, OASDI tax applies only to the taxpayer’s first $184,500 in wages or net earnings from self-employment. Taxpayers do not pay any OASDI tax on earnings that exceed $184,500.

There is no wage cap for HI tax.

Maximum Social Security Tax for 2026

For workers who earn $184,500 or more in 2026:

an employee will pay a total of $11,439 in social security tax ($184,500 x 6.2 percent);
the employer will pay the same amount; and
a self-employed worker will pay a total of $22,878 in social security tax ($184,500 x 12.4 percent).

Additional Medicare Tax

Higher-income workers may have to pay an Additional Medicare tax of 0.9 percent. This tax applies to wages and self-employment income that exceed:

$250,000 for married taxpayers who file a joint return;
$125,000 for married taxpayers who file separate returns; and
$200,000 for other taxpayers.

The annual wage cap does not affect the Additional Medicare tax.

Benefit Increase for 2026

Finally, a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will increase social security and SSI benefits for 2026 by 2.8 percent. The COLA is intended to ensure that inflation does not erode the purchasing power of these benefits.

Social Security Fact Sheet: 2026 Social Security Changes

SSA Press Release: Social Security Announces 2.8 Percent Benefit Increase for 2026

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The IRS issued frequently asked questions (FAQs) addressing the limitation on Employee Retention Credit (ERC) claims for the third and fourth quarters of 2021 under the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). The FAQs clarify when such claims are disallowed and how the IRS will handle related filings.

Limitation on Late Claims

ERC claims filed after January 31, 2024, for the third and fourth quarters of 2021 will not be allowed or refunded after July 4, 2025, under section 70605(d) of the OBBBA.

Previously Refunded Claims

Claims filed after January 31, 2024, that were refunded or credited before July 4, 2025, are not affected by this limitation. Other IRS compliance reviews, however, may still apply.

Withdrawn Claims

An amended return withdrawing a previously claimed ERC after January 31, 2024, is not subject to section 70605(d). The IRS will process such amended returns.

Filing Date

An ERC claim is considered filed on or before January 31, 2024, if the return was postmarked or electronically submitted by that date.

Processing of Other Items

If an ERC claim is disallowed under section 70605(d), the IRS may still process other items on the same return.

Appeals Rights

Taxpayers whose ERC claims are disallowed will receive Letter 105-C (Claim Disallowed) and may appeal to the IRS Independent Office of Appeals if they believe the claim was timely filed.

FS-2025-7

IR-2025-106

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The IRS identified drought-stricken areas where tax relief is available to taxpayers that sold or exchanged livestock because of drought. The relief extends the deadlines for taxpayers to replace the livestock and avoid reporting gain on the sales. These extensions apply until the drought-stricken area has a drought-free year.

When Sales of Livestock are Involuntary Conversions

Sales of livestock due to drought are involuntary conversions of property. Taxpayers can postpone gain on involuntary conversions if they buy qualified replacement property during the replacement period. Qualified replacement property must be similar or related in service or use to the converted property.

Usually, the replacement period ends two years after the tax year in which the involuntary conversion occurs. However, a longer replacement period applies in several situations, such as when sales occur in a drought-stricken area.

Livestock Sold Because of Weather

Taxpayers have four years to replace livestock they sold or exchanged solely because of drought, flood, or other weather condition. Three conditions apply.

First, the livestock cannot be raised for slaughter, held for sporting purposes or be poultry.

Second, the taxpayer must have held the converted livestock for:

draft,
dairy, or
breeding purposes.

Third, the weather condition must make the area eligible for federal assistance.

Persistent Drought

The IRS extends the four-year replacement period when a taxpayer sells or exchanges livestock due to persistent drought. The extension continues until the taxpayer’s region experiences a drought-free year.

The first drought-free year is the first 12-month period that:

ends on August 31 in or after the last year of the four-year replacement period, and
does not include any weekly period of drought.

What Areas are Suffering from Drought

The National Drought Mitigation Center produces weekly Drought Monitor maps that report drought-stricken areas. Taxpayers can view these maps at

https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/Maps/MapArchive.aspx.

However, the IRS also provided a list of areas where the year ending on August 31, 2025, was not a drought-free year. The replacement period in these areas will continue until the area has a drought-free year.

Notice 2025-52

IR-2025-93

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The IRS and Treasury have issued final regulations setting forth recordkeeping and reporting requirements for the average income test for purposes of the low-income housing credit. The regulations adopt the proposed and temporary regulations issued in 2022 with only minor, non-substantive changes.

Low-Income Housing Credit

An owner of a newly constructed or substantially rehabilitated qualified low-income building in a qualified low-income housing project may be eligible for the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) under Code Sec. 42. A project qualifies as a low-income housing project it satisfies certain set-aside tests or alternatively an average income test.

Under the average income test, at least 40 percent (25 percent in New York City) of a qualified group of residential units must be both rent-restricted and occupied by low-income individuals. Also, the average of the imputed income limitations must not exceed 60 percent of the area median gross income (AMGI).

Recording Keeping and Reporting Requirements

The regulations provide procedures for a taxpayer to identify a qualified group of residential units that satisfy the average income test. This includes recording the identification in the taxpayer’s books and records, including a change in a unit’s imputed income limit. The taxpayer also must communicate the annual identification to the applicable housing agency.

The final regulations clarify the submission of a corrected qualified group when the taxpayer or housing agency realizes that a previously submitted group fails to be a qualified group. The housing agency is also allowed the discretion to permit a taxpayer to submit one or two lists qualified groups of low-income units to demonstrate compliance with the minimum set-aside test and the applicable fractions for the building.

(T.D. 10036)

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The IRS released the optional standard mileage rates for 2019. Most taxpayers may use these rates to compute deductible costs of operating vehicles for:

business,
medical, and
charitable purposes.

Some members of the military may also use these rates to compute their moving expense deductions.

2019 Standard Mileage Rates
The standard mileage rates for 2019 are:

58 cents per mile for business uses;
20 cents per mile for medical uses; and
14 cents per mile for charitable uses.

Taxpayers may use these rates, instead of their actual expenses, to calculate their deductions for business, medical or charitable use of their own vehicles.

FAVR Allowance for 2019
For purposes of the fixed and variable rate (FAVR) allowance, the maximum standard automobile cost for vehicles places in service after 2018 is:

$50,400 for passenger automobiles, and
$50,400 for trucks and vans.

Employers can use a FAVR allowance to reimburse employees who use their own vehicles for the employer’s business.

2019 Mileage Rate for Moving Expenses
The standard mileage rate for the moving expense deduction is 20 cents per mile. To claim this deduction, the taxpayer must be:

a member of the Armed Forces of the United States,
on active military duty, and
moving under an military order and incident to a permanent change of station.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 suspended the moving expense deduction for all other taxpayers until 2026.

Unreimbursed Employee Travel Expenses
For most taxpayers, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act suspended the miscellaneous itemized deduction for unreimbursed employee travel expenses. However, certain taxpayers may still claim an above-the-line deduction for these expenses. These taxpayers include:

members of a reserve component of the U.S. Armed Forces,
state or local government officials paid on a fee basis, and
performing artists with relatively low incomes.

Notice 2018-3, I.R.B. 2018-2, 285, as modified by Notice 2018-42, I.R.B. 2018-24, 750, is superseded.

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The IRS has released long-awaited guidance on new Code Sec. 199A, commonly known as the "pass-through deduction" or the "qualified business income deduction." Taxpayers can rely on the proposed regulations and a proposed revenue procedure until they are issued as final.

Code Sec. 199A allows business owners to deduct up to 20 percent of their qualified business income (QBI) from sole proprietorships, partnerships, trusts, and S corporations. The deduction is one of the most high-profile pieces of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ( P.L. 115-97).

In addition to providing general definitions and computational rules, the new guidance helps clarify several concepts that were of special interest to many taxpayers.

Trade or Business

The proposed regulations incorporate the Code Sec. 162 rules for determining what constitutes a trade or business. A taxpayer may have more than one trade or business, but a single trade or business generally cannot be conducted through more than one entity.

Taxpayers cannot use the grouping rules of the passive activity provisions of Code Sec. 469 to group multiple activities into a single business. However, a taxpayer may aggregate trades or businesses if:

each trade or business is itself a trade or business;
the same person or group owns a majority interest in each business to be aggregated;
none of the aggregated trades or businesses can be a specified service trade or business; and
the trades or businesses meet at least two of three factors which demonstrate that they are in fact part of a larger, integrated trade or business.

Specified Service Business

Income from a specified service business generally cannot be qualified business income, although this exclusion is phased in for lower-income taxpayers.

A new de minimis exception allows some business to escape being designated as a specified service trade or business (SSTB). A business qualifies for this de minimis exception if:

gross receipts do not exceed $25 million, and less than 10 percent is attributable to services; or
gross receipts exceed $25 million, and less than five percent is attributable to services.

The regulations largely adopt existing rules for what activities constitute a service. However, a business receives income because of an employee/owner’s reputation or skill only when the business is engaged in:

endorsing products or services;
licensing the use of an individual’s image, name, trademark, etc.; or
receiving appearance fees.

In addition, the regulations try to limit attempts to spin-off parts of a service business into independent qualified businesses. Thus, a business that provides 80 percent or more of its property or services to a related service business is part of that service business. Similarly, the portion of property or services that a business provides to a related service business is treated as a service business. Businesses are related if they have at least 50-percent common ownership.

Wages/Capital Limit

A higher-income taxpayer’s qualified business income may be reduced by the wages/capital limit. This limit is based on the taxpayer’s share of the business’s:

W-2 wages that are allocable to QBI; and
unadjusted basis in qualified property immediately after acquisition.

The proposed regulations and Notice 2018-64, I.R.B. 2018-34, provide detailed rules for determining the business’s W-2 wages. These rules generally follow the rules that applied to the Code Sec. 199 domestic production activities deduction.

The proposed regulations also address unadjusted basis immediately after acquisition (UBIA). The regulations largely adopt the existing capitalization rules for determining unadjusted basis. However, "immediately after acquisition" is the date the business places the property in service. Thus, UBIA is generally the cost of the property as of the date the business places it in service.

Other Rules

The proposed regulations also address several other issues, including:

definitions;
basic computations;
loss carryovers;
Puerto Rico businesses;
coordination with other Code Sections;
penalties;
special basis rules;
previously suspended losses and net operating losses;
other exclusions from qualified business income;
allocations of items that are not attributable to a single trade or business;
anti-abuse rules;
application to trusts and estates; and
special rules for the related deduction for agricultural cooperatives.

Effective Dates

Taxpayers may generally rely on the proposed regulations and Notice 2018-64 until they are issued as final. The regulations and proposed revenue procedure will be effective for tax years ending after they are published as final. However:

several proposed anti-abuse rules are proposed to apply to tax years ending after December 22, 2017;
anti-abuse rules that apply specifically to the use of trusts are proposed to apply to tax years ending after August 9, 2018; and
if a qualified business’s tax year begins before January 1, 2018, and ends after December 31, 2017, the taxpayer’s items are treated as having been incurred in the taxpayer’s tax year during which business’s tax year ends.

Comments Requested

The IRS requests comments on all aspects of the proposed regulations. Comments may be mailed or hand-delivered to the IRS, or submitted electronically at www.regulations.gov (indicate IRS and REG-107892-18). Comments and requests for a public hearing must be received by September 24, 2018.

The IRS also requests comments on the proposed revenue procedure for calculating W-2 wages, especially with respect to amounts paid for services in Puerto Rico. Comments may be mailed or hand-delivered to the IRS, or submitted electronically to Notice.comments@irscounsel.treas.gov, with “ Notice 2018-64” in the subject line. These comments must also be received by September 24, 2018.

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