2026 tax time changes

You are probably getting a hold of your W2 just about now, and you might be wondering how much you’re going to get back, if anything at all.

Well, there are some big changes to your taxes this year.

Filing your taxes, it’s even more confusing this tax season.

Why? The passage of President Trump’s signature law, the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill, that ushered in a handful of tax changes.

Let’s highlight the big one, starting with higher standardized deductions. For singles, it was $15,000.

“For 2025, it goes up to $15,750,” Jon Karp from accounting firm Whitley Penn said.

SALT stands for State And Local Taxes, and it was a key sticking point during negotiations of the bill. There’s a cap on how much in SALT one can pay, depending on adjusted gross income.

“The old law was a $10,000 cap,” Karp said. “Now, you can get it anywhere from $10,000 to $40,000 in 2025.”

Karp says don’t forget how the standardized deductions factor in.

“Remember, you got to first crest that hurdle of the standard deduction of $31,500 if you’re married filing joint.” Karp said. 

Another change is for all the servers out there with some caveats.

“No tax on tips is capped at $25,000 per returns,” Karp said. “If you have a married filing joint couple, they only get $25,000. It’s not $25,000 per person.”