Under

United States tax law The United States has separate Federal government of the United States, federal, U.S. state, state, and Local government in the United States, local governments with taxes imposed at each of these levels. Taxes are levied on income, payroll, ...

, the standard deduction is a dollar amount that non- itemizers may subtract from their income before

income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...

(but not other kinds of tax, such as payroll tax) is applied. Taxpayers may choose either

itemized deduction Under United States tax law, itemized deductions are eligible expenses that individual taxpayers can claim on federal income Tax return (United States), tax returns and which decrease their taxable income, and are claimable in place of a standard ...

s or the standard deduction, but usually choose whichever results in the lesser amount of tax payable. The standard deduction is available to individuals who are US citizens or resident aliens. The standard deduction is based on filing status and typically increases each year, based on

inflation In economics, inflation is an increase in the average price of goods and services in terms of money. This increase is measured using a price index, typically a consumer price index (CPI). When the general price level rises, each unit of curre ...

measurements from the previous year. It is not available to nonresident aliens residing in the United States (with few exceptions, for example, students from India on F1 visa status can use the standard deduction). Additional amounts are available for persons who are blind and/or are at least 65 years of age. The standard deduction is distinct from the personal exemption, which was set to $0 by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 for tax years 2018–2025.

Federal standard deduction

The applicable federal (individual states will have different amounts for

state income tax In addition to Federal government of the United States, federal Income tax in the United States, income tax collected by the United States, most individual U.S. states collect a state income tax. Some local governments also impose an income tax, ...

) basic standard deduction amounts for recent tax years are as follows:

Other standard deductions in certain cases

The standard deduction may be higher than the basic standard deduction if any of the following conditions are met: * The taxpayer is 65 years of age or older. * The taxpayer's spouse is 65 years of age or older. * The taxpayer is blind (generally defined as not having corrected vision of at least 20/200 or as having extreme "limitation in the fields of vision"). * The taxpayer's spouse is blind (see definition above). For each applicable condition, a taxpayer adds $1,500 to his/her standard deductions (for 2023). However, the additional deduction is $1,850 for unmarried individuals who are not qualifying surviving spouses.I.R.S. publication 17 page 141 For dependents, the standard deduction is equal to earned income (that is, compensation for services, such as wages, salaries, or tips) plus a certain amount ($400 in 2023). A dependent's standard deduction cannot be more than the basic standard deduction for non-dependents, or less than a certain minimum ($1,250 in 2023). Consider the following examples:

References

*1040 Instruction Booklet for year 2005, Page 36.

External links

Internal Revenue Service Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Standard Deduction United States federal income tax Tax terms