Tax Desk

American taxes are being rewritten in real time. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed on July 4, 2025, made the 2017 rate cuts permanent and layered on a set of new, mostly temporary deductions — and the IRS is still issuing the guidance that decides how they work in practice. The Tax Desk is Market Briefer’s running record of that change: what passed, what the IRS clarified, what phases in or out and when, and who it hits. Every figure below is from the IRS or the statute; when guidance changes a number, this page changes with it.

The 2026 tax year at a glance

• Standard deduction: $16,100 for single filers, $32,200 for married couples filing jointly, $24,150 for heads of household.
• Rates: the seven federal brackets — 10% to 37% — are unchanged and now permanent. The top 37% rate applies to taxable income over $640,600 (single) and $768,700 (joint).
• Estate tax exclusion: $15 million per person for 2026.
• Child tax credit: $2,200 per qualifying child.

Source: IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32 (the 2026 inflation adjustments) and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Returns for the 2026 tax year are filed in early 2027.

The reforms this desk is tracking

• SALT cap at $40,000 — the state and local tax deduction cap rose from $10,000 for 2025, rises 1% a year through 2029, phases down for incomes above $500,000, and falls back to $10,000 in 2030.
• Tips deduction — up to $25,000 of qualified tips deductible, 2025 through 2028.
• Overtime deduction — up to $12,500 (single) or $25,000 (joint) of qualified overtime pay deductible, 2025 through 2028.
• Car-loan interest deduction — up to $10,000 of interest on loans for new, U.S.-assembled personal vehicles, 2025 through 2028.
• Senior deduction — an extra $6,000 for taxpayers aged 65 and over, 2025 through 2028, phasing out above $75,000 (single) and $150,000 (joint).
• Business permanence — 100% bonus depreciation and the 20% pass-through (QBI) deduction are now permanent.
• Trump Accounts — a one-time $1,000 federal contribution to a savings account for each child born from 2025 through 2028.

Use the desk

Run your own numbers with the free 2026 Income Tax Estimator, and browse the money guides in Cents & Sense. Dated Tax Desk updates — new IRS guidance, state-level changes, filing-season rulings — are published under Tax & Policy as they land.

The Tax Desk is educational coverage, not tax advice. Figures are verified against IRS publications at the time of writing; consult a qualified tax professional for your own situation.