Each year when you fill out your federal income tax return, you can either take the standard deduction or itemize deductions to reduce your taxable income. The overwhelming majority of taxpayers claim the standard deduction, because due to changes in tax law, few people find it worthwhile to itemize anymore. Standard deduction amounts were bulked up by a major tax overhaul in 2017 and in recent years the IRS has made them even bigger, amid the highest inflation in decades.
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What Is the Standard Deduction?
The standard deduction is a flat dollar amount set by the IRS based on your filing status. It’s the simplest way to reduce your taxable income on your tax return. In fact, Congress created the standard deduction in 1944 in an effort to simplify what was already a fairly complex federal tax process.
How Does the Standard Deduction Work?
If you claim the standard deduction, you’ll simply enter the available standard deduction on your Form 1040. The amount of the standard deduction will be subtracted from your gross income as you calculate your adjusted gross income, or AGI.
Here’s what that means: If you earned $75,000 in 2023 and file as a single taxpayer, taking the standard deduction of $13,850 will reduce your taxable income to $61,150.
Standard Deduction: Single, Married and Head of Household
The size of your standard deduction depends largely on your tax filing status. Besides your tax filing status, other factors used to calculate your standard deduction include your age, whether you’re blind and whether another taxpayer can claim you as a dependent.
Standard Deduction 2023 (Returns Due April 2024)
| Filing Status | Standard Deduction 2023 |
|---|---|
|
Single; Married Filing Separately
|
$13,850
|
|
Married Filing Jointly & Surviving Spouses
|
$27,700
|
|
Head of Household
|
$20,800
|
The IRS adjusts the standard deduction for inflation for each tax year.
Standard Deduction 2024 (Returns Due April 2025)
| Filing Status | Standard Deduction 2024 |
|---|---|
|
Single; Married Filing Separately
|
$14,600
|
|
Married Filing Jointly & Surviving Spouses
|
$29,200
|
|
Head of Household
|
$21,900
|
Additional Standard Deduction for People Over 65
Taxpayers who blind and/or are age 65 or older can claim an additional standard deduction, an amount that’s added to the regular standard deduction for their filing status.
| Filing Status | Taxpayer Is: | Additional Standard Deduction 2023 (Per Person) | Additional Standard Deduction 2024 (Per Person) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Married Filing Jointly or Married Filing Separately
|
Blind
|
$1,500
|
$1,550
|
|
Married Filing Jointly or Married Filing Separately
|
65 or older
|
$1,500
|
$1,550
|
|
Married Filing Jointly or Married Filing Separately
|
Blind AND 65 or older
|
$3,000
|
$3,100
|
|
Single or Head of Household
|
Blind
|
$1,850
|
$1,950
|
|
Single or Head of Household
|
65 or older
|
$1,850
|
$1,950
|
|
Single or Head of Household
|
Blind AND 65 or older
|
$3,700
|
$3,900
|
Navigating the additional standard deduction amounts can be confusing. The IRS instructions for Form 1040 typically include a table to help you calculate the standard deduction available to you based on when you (and your spouse, if applicable) were born and whether you and your spouse are considered legally blind.
Let’s run through a couple of examples of how the additional standard deduction can work.
Example 1: Jim and Susan are a married couple who file a joint return. They are both over age 65. Susan is blind; Jim is not.
For 2023, they’ll get the regular standard deduction of $27,700 for a married couple filing jointly. They also both get an additional standard deduction amount of $1,500 per person for being over 65. They get one more $1,500 standard deduction because Susan is blind. As a result, their 2023 standard deduction is $32,200: $27,700 + $1,500 + $1,500 + $1,500.
For 2024 tax returns, assuming there are no changes to their marital or vision status, Jim and Susan’s standard deduction would be $33,850. That’s the 2024 regular standard deduction of $29,200 for married taxpayers filing joint returns, plus three additional standard deductions at $1,550 apiece.
Example 2: Ellen is single, over the age of 65, and not blind. For 2023, she’ll get the regular standard deduction of $13,850, plus one additional standard deduction of $1,850 for being a single filer over age 65. Her total standard deduction amount will be $15,700.
For 2024, assuming no changes, Ellen’s standard deduction would be $16,550: the usual 2024 standard deduction of $14,600 available to single filers, plus one additional standard deduction of $1,950 for those over 65.
More About the Additional Standard Deduction for the Blind
To claim an additional standard deduction for blindness, you (or your spouse, if applicable) must be either totally blind by the end of the tax year or get a statement certified by our ophthalmologist or optometrist stating that either:
- You can’t see better than 20/200 in your better eye with glasses or contact lenses.
- Your field of vision is 20 degrees or less.
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Standard Deduction for Dependents
If another taxpayer can claim you as a dependent, your standard deduction is limited.
For 2023, the standard deduction for dependents is limited to the greater of $1,250 or your earned income plus $400—but the total can’t be more than the normal standard deduction available for your filing status.
For 2024, the limit will be $1,300 or your earned income plus $450, whichever is greater. But again, the amount can never be greater than the usual standard deduction available for your filing status.
For example, say Sarah is a college student who is a dependent of her parents and earns $15,000 from a part-time job in 2023. When she files her 2023 tax return, Sarah’s standard deduction will be the greater of:
- $1,250
- $15,400 (her $15,000 of earned income plus $400)
The obvious greater amount there is $15,400. However, since her standard deduction can’t be larger than the normal standard deductible available for her filing status—in this case, single—her standard deduction for 2023 would be $13,850.
Now, let’s say in 2024, Sarah works less, so her earned income will be only $10,000. Her standard deduction would be the greater of:
- $1,300
- $10,450 (her $10,000 of earned income plus $450)
Sarah’s standard deduction for 2024 would be $10,450, since that’s less than the normal standard deduction ($14,600) available for her filing status in 2024.
When Can You Claim the Standard Deduction?
Generally, the standard deduction is available to anyone who doesn’t itemize their deductions. Claiming the standard deduction is easier than itemizing because you don’t have to track your spending.
When Can’t You Claim It?
There are a few cases that disallow the standard deduction. You cannot claim the standard deduction if:
- You are married and file separately from a spouse who itemizes deductions.
- You were what the IRS calls a “nonresident alien” or a “dual-status alien” during the tax year.
- You file a return for less than 12 months due to a change in your accounting period.
- You file as an estate or trust, common trust fund or partnership.
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Itemized Deductions vs. Standard Deduction
As with the standard deduction, itemizing reduces your taxable income.
You may have a wide range of expenses you can claim as itemized deductions, including out-of-pocket medical expenses, state and local taxes, home mortgage interest and charitable contributions. But itemizing can be much more of a hassle than taking the standard deduction.
You have to track the expenses, keep receipts or other documentation proving you spent the money for deductible purposes, and—if you’re doing taxes using paper and pen—fill out additional tax forms.
Can Itemizing Save You Money?
For some people, itemizing reduces their tax bill more than claiming the standard deduction would. However, an estimated 90% of taxpayers choose to claim the standard deduction.
This wasn’t always the case. Before then-President Donald Trump signed the 2017 tax law, roughly 30% of taxpayers itemized deductions. But the law temporarily increased the standard deduction—nearly doubling it for all filing statuses. It also eliminated or restricted several itemized deductions, including:
- Capping the deduction for state and local taxes (SALT) at $10,000
- Limiting the home mortgage interest deduction to interest paid on up to $750,000 of mortgage debt (up to $375,000 if married filing separately)
- Eliminating unreimbursed employee expenses
As a result, fewer people benefit from itemizing—a situation that’s likely to remain until those provisions of the 2017 law expire on December 31, 2025, or sooner if Congress makes changes.
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Bottom Line
Claiming the standard deduction is usually the easier way to do your taxes, but if you have a lot of itemized deductions, add them up and compare the total to the standard deduction for your filing status. Most of the best tax filing software will help you do this. If you have enough deductions, itemizing might be the more beneficial route.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What happens if your standard deduction is more than your income?
When your gross income—which the IRS defines as wages plus other income including dividends and retirement distributions—is higher than the standard deduction for your filing status, your taxable income is effectively reduced to zero and you are not required to file a federal tax return. But filing is still a smart idea, particularly if you can claim the earned income tax credit or any other “refundable” tax credit that will put money in your pocket even if you don’t owe any taxes.
What can I deduct if I take the standard deduction?
Opting for the standard deduction bars you from claiming itemized deduction, like the write-off for charitable donations. But you can still claim “above-the-line deductions,” also known as adjustments to income, which are subtracted separately from your gross income. Above-the-line deductions include tax breaks for student loan interest; contributions to a traditional IRA; and moving expenses if you’re in the armed forces.
How do I maximize my standard deduction?
To claim your maximum possible standard deduction, be sure to correctly answer the questions your tax software asks about your age, marital status, household makeup and whether you are blind. That way, the right deduction amount will be subtracted from your taxable income. If you’re filling out a paper tax form, choose the correct standard deduction for your filing status and circumstances.
