I just read that in 2026 the standard deduction might decrease - how will this affect my taxes?
So I was browsing online last night and came across an article saying that the standard deduction is scheduled to decrease significantly in 2026 when some tax provisions expire. I'm honestly freaking out a bit because I always take the standard deduction and don't itemize. My household income is around $92,000 annually with my spouse and I both working full-time. We have a mortgage but our other deductions aren't that high. I'm trying to understand how much more we might end up paying in taxes if this change happens. Does anyone know approximately how much the standard deduction will decrease? Is there anything we should be doing now to prepare for these changes? Should we start tracking more potential deductions? I'm not super tax-savvy and this has me worried about our future tax situation.
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Ethan Brown
The standard deduction is indeed scheduled to decrease in 2026 when provisions from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) expire. The standard deduction nearly doubled with TCJA, and it's set to revert to pre-2018 levels, adjusted for inflation. For perspective, in 2025 (for taxes filed in 2026), the standard deduction is projected to be around $29,200 for married filing jointly. If the TCJA expires without new legislation, this would drop to approximately $15,000-$16,000 (pre-TCJA levels adjusted for inflation) for 2026. Your concern is valid - this change would potentially expose more of your income to taxation. However, remember that several other TCJA provisions will also expire simultaneously, including changes to tax brackets and rates, so the overall impact is complex.
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Yuki Yamamoto
•Thanks for explaining! Do you think Congress will extend these provisions before they expire? And what about the child tax credit - will that be affected too?
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Ethan Brown
•Congress could certainly extend some or all of these provisions before expiration. Tax policy tends to be cyclical, and there's often political pressure not to raise taxes on middle-income households. It's impossible to predict with certainty, but historically, Congress has acted to prevent sudden tax increases on broad segments of taxpayers. The child tax credit will also be affected. Under TCJA, it increased from $1,000 to $2,000 per qualifying child, with up to $1,400 refundable. Without extension, it would revert to $1,000 per child with different refundability rules.
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Carmen Ortiz
I went through something similar last year when I was trying to figure out how the sunset provisions would affect my family. I was struggling to make sense of all the different tax implications and what I should be planning for. I ended up using this service called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) which helped me analyze my specific situation. The tool analyzed my past tax returns and gave me a personalized report showing exactly how the 2026 changes would likely affect my tax situation based on my specific income and deduction history. It was way more helpful than the generic articles I was reading online that just gave broad numbers.
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Andre Rousseau
•Did it actually show you dollar amounts of how much more you'd pay? Can it help with planning for the next couple years before the changes hit?
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Zoe Papadakis
•Sounds interesting but I'm skeptical. Isn't this just something a regular tax professional could tell you? Why use an AI thing for this?
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Carmen Ortiz
•Yes, it gave me specific dollar amounts based on my actual tax situation! It showed me that my family would pay approximately $3,200 more annually if nothing changes. The report also included some planning suggestions for 2024-2025 to help minimize the impact. The difference from a regular tax professional is the cost and convenience. I uploaded my returns and got specific analysis without having to schedule and pay for a full consultation. It also lets me play with different scenarios myself to see how changes might affect me.
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Andre Rousseau
Just wanted to follow up about that taxr.ai site that was mentioned. I was one of the skeptical ones but decided to give it a try this weekend. The analysis was actually super helpful! It showed me that my household would be paying about $4,100 more in taxes if the standard deduction drops as scheduled. What I found most helpful was the year-by-year planning tool. It suggested I might want to accelerate some income into 2025 if possible and defer certain deductions until 2026 when they'd be more valuable. It also flagged that I should reassess whether itemizing would make sense for me in 2026 even though I've always taken the standard deduction. Definitely worth checking out if you're trying to prepare for these changes!
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Jamal Carter
For anyone panicking about the standard deduction changes (like I was), I wanted to share something that helped me actually get answers directly from the IRS. I spent WEEKS trying to call them with questions about how to plan for 2026 and kept getting stuck on hold forever or disconnected. I finally used this service called Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) that got me through to an actual IRS agent in about 20 minutes. They have this demo video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. The agent was super helpful and explained which parts of my tax situation would be most affected by the changes and what documentation I should start keeping now to prepare.
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AstroAdventurer
•How does this service actually work? Do they just call the IRS for you? Seems like something I could do myself if I just had enough time to wait on hold.
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Zoe Papadakis
•This sounds like a complete scam. There's no way to "skip the line" with the IRS. I'm sure they just put you on hold like everyone else and charge you for the privilege.
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Jamal Carter
•They don't call for you - they use some tech that holds your place in line and then calls you when an IRS agent picks up. I was skeptical too at first, but it saved me from having to sit by my phone for hours. Their system monitors the hold and alerts you when you're about to connect with an agent. I totally get the skepticism! I had the same reaction. But after trying to get through myself for weeks (and getting disconnected 4 times after waiting 90+ minutes), this actually worked. The IRS agent I spoke with gave me specific guidance based on my employment situation that I couldn't find anywhere online.
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Zoe Papadakis
Ok I have to admit I was completely wrong about Claimyr. After posting my skeptical comment, I decided to try it myself because I've been trying to reach the IRS about how the standard deduction changes would affect my small business income. I've been trying to call the IRS for THREE MONTHS with no luck. Used the service yesterday and got through to an agent in 37 minutes. The agent walked me through exactly how the expiring provisions would impact my small business deductions along with the standard deduction changes. The most valuable thing was finding out I should be tracking certain business expenses differently now to prepare for 2026. They explained that while the standard deduction will decrease, some business expense categories might actually be more beneficial to track separately. Totally worth it after months of frustration.
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Mei Liu
Don't forget that when the standard deduction decreases, personal exemptions are supposed to come back! Before 2018, you got both a standard deduction AND personal exemptions (around $4,050 per person in your household). The TCJA eliminated personal exemptions when they increased the standard deduction. So for a family of 4, you'd lose about $13,000 in standard deduction but gain back about $16,000+ in personal exemptions (adjusted for inflation). The math might actually work out in your favor depending on your family size!
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CosmicCrusader
•Is that definitely happening? Will the personal exemptions come back at the same value they were before? This actually makes me feel a lot better about the whole situation if that's true.
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Mei Liu
•Yes, if Congress doesn't act, the law automatically reverts to the pre-2018 system which included personal exemptions. The amount would be the pre-2018 value adjusted for inflation, so likely around $5,000-$5,500 per person by 2026. For your specific situation as the original poster with you and your spouse, that would mean approximately $10,000-$11,000 in personal exemptions coming back. So yes, you'd lose some standard deduction value, but gain back these exemptions. The net effect varies by household size and income level, which is why personalized analysis is helpful. If you have children or other dependents, the return of personal exemptions could offset more of the standard deduction reduction.
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Liam O'Sullivan
Has anyone actually run the numbers on this? Like if you're married filing jointly and make $100k, how much more would you actually pay? I've been hearing doomsday scenarios but I'm wondering if it's being exaggerated.
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Ethan Brown
•I've run some rough calculations. For a married couple with $100k income and no kids, taking the standard deduction: In 2025 (current rules): - Standard deduction: ~$29,200 - Taxable income: ~$70,800 - Estimated tax: ~$8,100 In 2026 (if TCJA expires): - Standard deduction: ~$16,000 - Personal exemptions: ~$11,000 (2 x $5,500) - Taxable income: ~$73,000 - Estimated tax: ~$10,200 So roughly $2,100 more, but this varies based on specific circumstances and doesn't account for potential changes to tax brackets that would also occur. This is why personalized analysis is valuable.
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Amara Chukwu
My accountant told me to start keeping track of all possible itemized deductions NOW, even though I take the standard deduction. That way when 2026 rolls around, I'll have the documentation ready in case itemizing becomes better than the lower standard deduction. Things like medical expenses, charitable donations, mortgage interest, property taxes, etc.
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Yuki Yamamoto
•That's smart! What's the easiest way to track all that stuff? Do you just keep receipts or is there a good app?
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Amara Chukwu
•I use a combination of methods. For receipts, I take photos with my phone and save them to a dedicated folder organized by category (medical, charity, etc). For recurring expenses like mortgage interest, I set up a simple spreadsheet that I update monthly. There are also some decent apps - I've tried Mint which categorizes expenses automatically, and Expensify which is good for receipt scanning. The key is consistency throughout the year rather than scrambling at tax time. My accountant also suggested starting this tracking now to establish a baseline for what my itemized deductions typically look like, which helps with future tax planning.
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Alexander Evans
This is really helpful information everyone! As someone who's been dreading 2026, I'm feeling a bit more informed now. I think the key takeaway for me is that I need to start being more proactive about tracking potential deductions, even though I've always just taken the standard deduction. @Ethan Brown - your calculation showing roughly $2,100 more in taxes for a $100k married couple is actually not as bad as I feared. And @Mei Liu - I had no idea personal exemptions would come back! That's a huge detail that wasn't mentioned in the articles I was reading. I'm definitely going to start keeping better records of charitable donations, medical expenses, and other potential itemized deductions. Better to have the documentation and not need it than to be caught unprepared. Has anyone found that switching from standard to itemized deduction made a big difference in their tax planning year-to-year?
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