2026 Tax Brackets: $640,600 Single, $768,700 Married Filing Jointly
For 2026 the seven federal rates stay 10-37%. The 37% bracket starts above $640,600 single and $768,700 married filing jointly. Standard deduction: $16,100 single, $32,200 joint.
Reaching the top bracket does not mean paying 37% on everything
The most common misreading of a tax table is treating the bracket you land in as the rate on your entire income. It is not. The US system is marginal: each slice of income is taxed at the rate for its own band. Crossing into the 37% bracket in 2026 means only the dollars above $640,600 (single) or $768,700 (married filing jointly) are taxed at 37 percent. Everything below is still taxed at 10, 12, 22, 24, 32 and 35 percent in turn.[1][3]
The practical consequence is that earning one dollar past a threshold never reduces take-home pay. A raise that pushes someone into a higher bracket raises the tax on the new dollars only. This is also why the rate people actually pay — the effective rate — is always lower than the bracket they are described as being in. The IRS bracket tables list thresholds, not the share of total income owed.[1][3]
Thresholds also apply to taxable income, which is what remains after the standard deduction or itemised deductions. For 2026 the standard deduction is $16,100 for single filers, $32,200 for married couples filing jointly and $24,150 for heads of household. A single filer with $650,000 of gross income is therefore not automatically in the top bracket, because the deduction is subtracted first.[1][3]
All seven brackets, as the IRS lists them
The IRS publishes every threshold in a single paragraph, so the whole table can be quoted exactly. For tax year 2026 the lowest rate is 10% for incomes of $12,400 or less ($24,800 married filing jointly). Then 12% over $12,400 ($24,800 joint), 22% over $50,400 ($100,800 joint), 24% over $105,700 ($211,400 joint), 32% over $201,775 ($403,550 joint), 35% over $256,225 ($512,450 joint), and 37% above $640,600 ($768,700 joint).[3]
These are thresholds on taxable income, not gross pay. Subtract the standard deduction first — $16,100 single, $32,200 married filing jointly, $24,150 head of household — or itemised deductions if they come to more. A joint filer with $120,000 of wages and no other adjustments has about $87,800 of taxable income, which lands in the 22% band, not the 24% one. This page does not compute anyone's actual liability; credits, other income and adjustments all change the result.[3]
The married-filing-jointly figures above are the IRS's own. Some tables circulating for 2026 list the joint 37% threshold as $768,600. The IRS page states $768,700, and where a secondary table disagrees with the agency that sets the number, the agency's figure is the one this page reports. Separate filers are not covered here — the IRS paragraph quotes single and joint amounts, and this page did not read the married-filing-separately or head-of-household bands from Revenue Procedure 2025-32.[1][3]
The 2026 numbers
The IRS set 2026 inflation adjustments in Revenue Procedure 2025-32, applying to returns filed in early 2027. The seven rates remain 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35% and 37%, with the top rate starting above $640,600 (single).[1][2]
The standard deduction rises to $16,100 for single filers, $32,200 for married filing jointly, and $24,150 for heads of household — increases of roughly $350/$700 over 2025.[1][2]
The joint-filer 37% threshold appears as $768,600 in the Tax Foundation table, but the IRS itself states $768,700, and First Citizens matches the IRS. Rechecked against the IRS page on 23 September 2026: the $100 gap is a secondary-table error, not an open question. This page reports the IRS figure.[1][2][3]
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act shaped these numbers: it made the TCJA rate structure permanent and, per Tax Foundation, gave the bottom two brackets an extra inflation adjustment (about 4%) versus roughly 2.3% for higher brackets.[1]
Verified facts
Each fact is labelled with its evidence typeEach fact in this section carries its evidence type — either cross-checked against independent sources, or confirmed from a single authoritative record.
Tax year 2026 keeps seven federal rates (10-37%), set by IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32, for returns filed in early 2027.[1][2] 2 sources · independent
The 2026 standard deduction is $16,100 (single), $32,200 (married filing jointly) and $24,150 (head of household).[1][2] 2 sources · independent
The 37% top rate starts above $640,600 for single filers.[1][2] 2 sources · independent
For tax year 2026 the 37% top rate applies to income above $640,600 for single filers and above $768,700 for married couples filing jointly.[1][3] 2 sources · independent
Reported, not confirmed
Not cross-checked — do not read as factFrom here on: claims and speculation that are not cross-checked.
The joint-filer 37% threshold is listed as $768,600 (Tax Foundation) vs $768,700 (First Citizens) — a $100 discrepancy between the two tables.[1][2] single-source ×2 · source discrepancy — kept unresolved
OBBBA made TCJA rates permanent and applied ~4% inflation adjustment to the bottom two brackets vs ~2.3% for higher ones.[1] single-source ×1 · Tax Foundation analysis (single source)
Seniors 65+ can claim an additional standard deduction ($2,050 individual / $1,650 per joint filer), per First Citizens.[2] single-source ×1 · single fetched source
Timeline
- Model
- claude-fable-5
- Time
- 08/19/2026, 15:40
- Body characters
- 3,551
- Sources
- 3 sources adopted
- Model
- claude-fable-5 (review passed)
- Time
- 08/19/2026, 15:55
- Verdict
- Passed
Show revision history (4)
| 08/19/2026, 15:40 | First authored (claude-fable-5) | Created |
| 08/19/2026 | New document (reference) — "2026 tax brackets" is a top evergreen US query through the 2027 filing season. All headline figures cross Tax Foundation + First Citizens (IRS.gov newsroom page for the Rev Proc could not be re-fetched today; linked as official). The $100 joint-threshold discrepancy between sources is surfaced as content per site principle. Related-linked to the OBBBA deductions doc. | Updated |
| 09/20/2026 | Retitled so the married-filing-jointly threshold is visible. Search Console shows this page ranking first for "tax brackets married jointly 2026" with no clicks, while the old title named only the single-filer figure. The joint threshold of $768,700 was already in the body; nothing was added to the substance. | Updated |
| 09/23/2026 | Added the full seven-bracket table from the IRS page; resolved the $768,600 vs $768,700 discrepancy in favour of the IRS figure; added a joint-filer FAQ. | Updated |
Frequently asked
How much do you have to make to be in the top tax bracket?
For 2026, the 37% bracket starts above $640,600 for single filers and $768,700 for married couples filing jointly. Only the income above that threshold is taxed at 37%, not your whole income.[1][3]
What is the standard deduction for 2026?
$16,100 for single filers, $32,200 for married filing jointly, and $24,150 for heads of household — up roughly $350/$700 from 2025.[1][2]
Did tax rates change for 2026?
The seven rates (10-37%) are unchanged — OBBBA made the TCJA structure permanent — but bracket thresholds rose with inflation, slightly more for the bottom two brackets.[1][2]
Where does the 37% bracket start?
Above $640,600 for single filers. For joint filers our two sources disagree by $100 ($768,600 vs $768,700) — check the IRS revenue procedure for filing purposes.[1][2]
What are the 2026 tax brackets for married filing jointly?
10% up to $24,800; 12% over $24,800; 22% over $100,800; 24% over $211,400; 32% over $403,550; 35% over $512,450; and 37% above $768,700. These apply to taxable income after the $32,200 joint standard deduction.[3]
Official links
- Official IRS Newsroom