Even a government shutdown — and the furlough of 34,000 employees at the Internal Revenue Service — doesn’t change the need to file your 2026 taxes.
The shutdown was big news. But right after the IRS announced employee furloughs (1), it released important news without much fanfare: updated tax brackets affecting every taxpayer in the U.S.
Each year, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) adjusts the nation’s tax brackets upward to account for the impact of inflation using the Consumer Price Index (CPI) as a guide.
This is especially helpful if your wages are just keeping up with inflation, but you’re at risk of being pushed into a higher wage bracket as a result of a pay increase. It offers all taxpayers some relief from the increasing cost of living.
Updated tax brackets are generally good news. So why weren’t they big news?
Perhaps because the bump in tax brackets isn’t big, either.
Here’s more on the tax bracket updates and what it could mean for you.
Bloomberg Tax estimates the IRS has bumped this year’s tax brackets up by about 2.7% over 2024 (2).
As CBS reports, that contrasts to the IRS bumping tax brackets by a whopping 7% in 2023 and another 5.4% in 2024 to address ongoing inflation following the pandemic (3). So this year’s bump is relatively modest.
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For individual filers, these are the new income tax brackets:
10% tax bracket: $0—$12,400
12% tax bracket: $12,401—$50,400
22% tax bracket: $50,401—$105,700
24% tax bracket: $105,701—$201,775
32% tax bracket: $201,776—$256,225
35% tax bracket: $256,225—$640,600
37% tax bracket: $640,601 and up
The upper end of the lowest tax bracket (10%) has been raised from $11,925 in 2025 to $12,400 in 2026. That’s a 3.9% increase.
Meanwhile, the floor for the top marginal tax rate (37%) has been raised from $626,351 this year to $640,601 for individual tax filers next year. That’s a smaller bump of 2.3%.
These are the new income thresholds for married couples who file jointly:
10% tax bracket: $0—$24,800 (up from $23,850 in 2025, a 3.9% bump)
12% tax bracket: $24,801—$100,800
22% tax bracket: $100,801—$211,100
24% tax bracket: $211,401—$403,550
32% tax bracket: $403,551—$512,450
35% tax bracket: $512,451—$768,700
37% tax bracket: $768,701 and up (up from $751,601, a 2.3% bump)
