The IRS has published the 2027 tax brackets, with a standard deduction of $16,600 for single filers and $33,200 for married couples filing jointly. The seven rates, from 10% to 37%, stay the same. Every income threshold moves up for inflation, according to IRS news release IR-2026-133, issued Nov. 5.
These figures cover income earned in calendar 2027, which goes on returns filed in 2028. The return you file next spring still uses the 2026 numbers. On the same income, our worked examples show federal income tax falling by $68 to $561 a year.
The Tax Foundation puts the average increase in inflation-adjusted tax figures at about 3.2%. Indexing stops “bracket creep”, where inflation alone pushes a household into a higher bracket. That protection counts for more in a year when power prices are up 6.9% and the Fed is weighing a December rate hike.
The 2027 brackets for single, married and head-of-household filers
The table comes from Rev. Proc. 2026-35, the legal document behind the release. It also contains the head-of-household schedule, which the news release leaves out. The Tax Foundation’s table, published Nov. 6, matches it line for line.
| Rate | Single | Married filing jointly | Head of household |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10% | Up to $12,800 | Up to $25,600 | Up to $18,250 |
| 12% | $12,800 to $52,025 | $25,600 to $104,050 | $18,250 to $69,650 |
| 22% | $52,025 to $109,125 | $104,050 to $218,250 | $69,650 to $109,100 |
| 24% | $109,125 to $208,325 | $218,250 to $416,650 | $109,100 to $208,300 |
| 32% | $208,325 to $264,550 | $416,650 to $529,100 | $208,300 to $264,550 |
| 35% | $264,550 to $661,375 | $529,100 to $793,650 | $264,550 to $661,350 |
| 37% | Over $661,375 | Over $793,650 | Over $661,350 |
Each rate applies only to the slice of taxable income between the two figures. Married people filing separately use the single thresholds up to the 35% bracket, which for them ends at $396,825.
The standard deduction is $16,600 for single filers and married people filing separately. Joint filers get $33,200 and heads of household $24,925. For 2026 those figures were $16,100, $32,200 and $24,150, according to the IRS’s 2026 release, IR-2025-103.
Filers aged 65 or older, or blind, add $1,700 each in 2027. Unmarried filers add $2,100, the IRS document says.
What you’d owe at $60,000, $120,000 and $150,000
The brackets apply to taxable income, the amount left after deductions, not to your salary. We ran three households through the 2027 tables. Each assumes wage income only, the standard deduction and no credits, so treat them as illustrations rather than tax advice. Retirement contributions, the child tax credit and other items will change a real return.
Single filer, $60,000. Subtracting the $16,600 deduction leaves $43,400 of taxable income. The 10% rate on the first $12,800 comes to $1,280. The 12% rate on the remaining $30,600 adds $3,672. The total is $4,952, or 8.3% of income, even though this person sits “in the 12% bracket”.
Single filer, $120,000. Taxable income is $103,400. The 10% slice costs $1,280, and the 12% slice from $12,800 to $52,025 ($39,225) costs $4,707. The 22% rate on the last $51,375 adds $11,302.50. The total is $17,289.50, or 14.4% of income, well below the 22% top rate this filer pays.
Married couple filing jointly, $150,000. Taxable income after the $33,200 deduction is $116,800. The couple owes $2,560 at 10% on the first $25,600 and $9,414 at 12% on the next $78,450. The 22% rate on the final $12,750 above $104,050 adds $2,805. The total is $14,779, or 9.9% of income.
We checked each result against the IRS document’s own formulas, such as “$5,987.00 plus 22% of the excess over $52,025” for single filers. None of the figures include Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes or state income tax.
How much the inflation adjustment saves you
Running the same three incomes through the 2026 tables shows what indexing is worth. The 2026 standard deduction is smaller, so taxable income is higher, and the lower brackets end sooner.
| Household | Taxable income (2027) | Federal income tax, 2027 | Same income, 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single, $60,000 | $43,400 | $4,952 | $5,020 | $68 less |
| Single, $120,000 | $103,400 | $17,289.50 | $17,570 | $280.50 less |
| Married jointly, $150,000 | $116,800 | $14,779 | $15,340 | $561 less |
The savings are small because the adjustment only keeps pace with prices. A household whose pay rose 3% in line with inflation ends up paying roughly the same share of its income in tax.
Why a raise can’t push all your income into a higher bracket
Myth: A raise that tips you into the next bracket means the IRS taxes all your income at the higher rate, so you could take home less.
Fact: The higher rate hits only the dollars above the threshold. Everything below it costs exactly what it did before.
Take a single filer earning $68,000 in 2027. After the standard deduction, taxable income is $51,400, just under the $52,025 line where the 22% rate starts. Federal income tax comes to $5,912.
Now give that person a $2,000 raise, to $70,000. Taxable income becomes $53,400, so $1,375 of it now falls in the 22% bracket. Tax rises to $6,289.50, an increase of $377.50 on $2,000 of extra pay.
Taxing the whole $53,400 at 22% would produce a bill of $11,748. That is the outcome the myth assumes, and it never happens.
The real exceptions come from credits, not brackets. The earned income tax credit starts to phase out above a set income level. Above that point each extra dollar of pay trims the credit, which can raise the cost of a raise for some low-income workers.
Child tax credit, capital gains and the other numbers that moved
The IRS adjusted almost 70 provisions in all. These are the ones most households will notice:
- Child tax credit: up $100 to $2,300 per child, with up to $1,800 refundable.
- Earned income tax credit: up to $8,496 for families with three or more children, from $8,231.
- Long-term capital gains: the 0% rate covers up to $51,050 of taxable income for single filers, $102,100 for joint filers and $68,350 for heads of household. The 20% rate starts above $563,200, $633,600 and $598,400.
- Gifts and estates: the annual gift exclusion rises to $20,000 from $19,000. The estate tax exclusion rises to $15.48 million from $15 million.
- Health flexible spending accounts: the salary reduction limit rises $100, to $3,500.
The personal exemption stays at zero. The IRS credits the “Working Families Tax Cuts” with making that rule permanent. That is its name for the 2025 tax law the Tax Foundation calls the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The law also created a $6,000 deduction for filers 65 and older, which the Tax Foundation notes has no inflation indexing and expires at the end of 2028.
The release does not cover 401(k) or IRA contribution limits, which the IRS announces separately. For now, the numbers that matter for the return due next April remain 2026’s $16,100 and $32,200 standard deductions.
