Standard Deduction vs Itemizing in 2026
Every taxpayer faces one simple comparison. Add up your itemized deductions on Schedule A, compare the total with the standard deduction for your filing status, and take whichever is larger. You never take both. For tax year 2026 the standard deduction is $16,100 for single filers and married filers filing separately, $32,200 for married couples filing jointly and surviving spouses, and $24,150 for heads of household, under IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32. About 90% of taxpayers take the standard deduction, so itemizing is the exception, not the rule.
The decision in one sentence
If your Schedule A deductions add up to more than your standard deduction, itemize. If they add up to less, take the standard deduction. The comparison is done fresh every year, because both your expenses and the standard deduction change.
The 2026 standard deduction
The 2026 standard deduction is $16,100 for single filers, $32,200 for married filing jointly, and $24,150 for heads of household. For comparison, the 2025 figures were $15,750 single, $31,500 joint, and $23,625 head of household. The personal exemption remains $0 for 2026, so the standard deduction is doing all the work that the exemption used to share.
There are add-ons for age and blindness. For 2026 the additional standard deduction for being age 65 or older, or blind, is $2,050 for single filers and heads of household, and $1,650 per qualifying spouse for joint filers. A single filer who is 65 and blind, for example, adds $4,100 to the $16,100 base.
The four main Schedule A categories
Itemized deductions live on Schedule A, and four categories do most of the work. First, state and local taxes, known as SALT: income or sales tax plus property tax. Second, mortgage interest. Third, charitable gifts. Fourth, medical and dental expenses. There are smaller categories too, but these four decide the outcome for almost everyone who itemizes.
The SALT deduction is capped. For 2026 the cap is $40,400, or $20,200 for married filing separately, up from $40,000 in 2025 and $10,000 before the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The cap phases down for very high incomes and is scheduled to revert to $10,000 in 2030, but the exact phase-out threshold is not stated here because the sources consulted disagreed on it. Mortgage interest is deductible on up to $750,000 of acquisition debt for loans taken after 15 December 2017, or $1,000,000 for older loans, with half those limits for married filing separately.
Charitable gifts and medical expenses
Cash gifts to qualifying public charities are generally deductible up to 60% of adjusted gross income. That ceiling is high enough that it rarely binds, but it exists, and gifts above it can usually be carried forward. The charity must be a qualifying organisation, and the gift must be documented, so keeping receipts and written acknowledgements matters.
Medical and dental expenses are deductible only for the portion above 7.5% of AGI. If your AGI is $60,000, the first $4,500 of medical costs gives no deduction at all, and only the amount above $4,500 counts. That floor is why medical costs alone rarely make itemizing worthwhile unless they are large in a single year.
Bunching: timing your deductions
Because the comparison is made year by year, timing can matter. Bunching means deliberately paying two years of deductible expenses in one year, for example making next January's charitable gifts in December, so that the one year clears the standard deduction and you itemize, while the other year you take the standard deduction. The total gifts are the same, but the tax result can be better.
Bunching only helps when the bunched year genuinely beats the standard deduction, and it only works for expenses you can control the timing of, such as charitable gifts and some property tax payments. Mortgage interest and medical bills are harder to move. It is a timing idea, not a way to create deductions that do not exist.
Which one should you take?
Run the numbers both ways. Add up SALT (capped at $40,400), mortgage interest, charitable gifts, and the medical amount above 7.5% of AGI. If the total beats $16,100 single, $32,200 joint, or $24,150 head of household, itemize. If it does not, take the standard deduction and keep the paperwork simple. Remember that married couples filing separately have a linked choice: if one spouse itemizes, the other must itemize too, even if the standard deduction would be better for them.
The choice changes as life changes. Buying a home, paying large medical bills, or making large charitable gifts can push you over the line in one year and back under it the next. There is nothing to file in advance. You simply choose on the return, and you can choose differently next year.
Sources: Internal Revenue Service, IR-2025-103 and Revenue Procedure 2025-32, https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-releases-tax-inflation-adjustments-for-tax-year-2026-including-amendments-from-the-one-big-beautiful-bill; IRS Schedule A instructions and Topic 503 (SALT).