When managing your finances and preparing your taxes, it is important to understand federal income tax brackets. They tell you how much of your pay will be taxed at a given rate and how much you’ll owe the IRS.
The IRS has now released the 2026 income tax brackets, allowing taxpayers ample time to prepare for the upcoming filing season, with returns due in January 2027. The encouraging news is that while income levels were adjusted for inflation, tax rates themselves remain the same — 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, and 37%.
If you’re married and filing separately, it’s helpful to know where your income is in these new brackets.
2026 tax Brackets for married filing separately
The following are the 2026 IRS tax brackets if you’re married filing separately:
Tax Rate
Taxable Income (Married Filing Separately)
10%
Not more than $12,400
12%
Over $12,400, but not over $50,400.
22%
Over $50,400 but not over $105,700
24%
Over $105,700, but not over $201,775.
32%
Between $201,775 and $256,225
35%
More than $256,225 but not over $384,350
37%
More than $384,350
These are marginal rates, so you don’t pay one rate on each dollar of income. Your income is taxed in slices instead. For instance, if you earn $120,000, the first slice up to $12,400 is taxed at 10%, the next slice to $50,400 is taxed at 12%, and so on. Only income in excess of $105,700 is taxed at 24%.
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This system applies the higher tax rate only to the upper portion of your income, rather than to your total income.
Why do tax brackets increase each year
Tax brackets increase each year in order to account for inflation. This ensures that you don’t fall victim to so-called “bracket creep”—your income increases modestly due to inflation, but you become subject to a higher tax bracket when your buying power hasn’t really grown.
For 2026, the brackets get wider, so more of your income stays in the lower brackets before it jumps to the higher rates. That’s a small but helpful change for most taxpayers.
The 2026 standard deduction
Along with new brackets, the standard deduction — how much you can just subtract from your income before you pay taxes — is increasing as well.
For married couples filing separately and single filers, the 2026 standard deduction will be $16,100, or $350 higher than 2025.
For joint filers, it will be $32,200.
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A greater deduction means more of your income is excluded from being taxed, which can lower your overall tax payment or increase your refund.
No 2025 “tax cliff” to fear
When the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) was passed in 2017, nearly all of its provisions were scheduled to expire after 2025. Taxpayers worried that the sunset would bring a sharp rise in tax rates—a so-called “tax cliff”.
But in 2025, Congress passed a new spending and tax measure, signed into law by President Trump on July 4, 2025. The law permanently fixed the current tax rates, so the seven tax rates (10% to 37%) will stay the same through 2026 and subsequent years.
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