2024 Standard Deduction
For 2024, the Standard Deduction figures are $14,600 (Single unmarried), $29,200 (Married jointly), $21,900 (Head of household) and 2 more figures below.
Effective 2024-01-01Source: Rev. Proc. 2023-34 (IRS)Verified 2026-09-02
Compared with 2023
| Item | 2023 | 2024 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single unmarried | $13,850 | $14,600 | +$750 (+5.4%) |
| Married jointly | $27,700 | $29,200 | +$1,500 (+5.4%) |
| Head of household | $20,800 | $21,900 | +$1,100 (+5.3%) |
| Aged blind addition | +$1,500 | +$1,550 | +$50 (+3.3%) |
| Aged blind addition unmarried | +$1,850 | +$1,950 | +$100 (+5.4%) |
Who it applies to
Individual taxpayers who claim the standard deduction on their federal income tax returns for 2024.
What changed this year, and why
For taxable years beginning in 2024, the IRS increased the standard deduction amounts under IRC § 63(c)(2) and the additional amounts for the aged or blind under § 63(f).
Common questions
- What are the 2024 standard deduction amounts by filing status?
- For 2024, the standard deduction is $29,200 for married individuals filing joint returns and surviving spouses, $21,900 for heads of household, and $14,600 for unmarried individuals (other than surviving spouses and heads of household) and for married individuals filing separate returns.
- How much is the additional standard deduction for the aged or blind in 2024?
- For 2024, the additional standard deduction for the aged or blind is $1,550 per qualifying condition. The additional amount is $1,950 per qualifying condition if the taxpayer is unmarried and not a surviving spouse.
- How do the 2024 standard deduction amounts compare to 2023?
- The 2024 standard deduction is higher than the 2023 amount for every filing status. For married filing jointly, it rose from $27,700 to $29,200. For heads of household, it rose from $20,800 to $21,900. For single filers, it rose from $13,850 to $14,600. The additional amount for the aged or blind rose from $1,500 to $1,550, and from $1,850 to $1,950 for unmarried individuals.
Every amount on this page is a published figure rather than yours. The Standard deduction against itemising for a single filer takes the number you enter and works it out against them, showing which published figure it used.
Three ways your standard deduction becomes zero
Three situations make your standard deduction zero for 2024, meaning you must itemize instead. First, if you are married filing separately and your spouse chooses to itemize their own deductions, you cannot take the standard deduction. Second, if you file a return for a short tax year because you changed your annual accounting period, the standard deduction is not allowed. Third, if you are a nonresident alien or a dual-status alien during the year, you are ineligible. A dual-status alien is someone who was both a nonresident and a resident alien in the same year. Even though the 2024 standard deduction amounts are $14,600 for single filers, $29,200 for married filing jointly, and $21,900 for heads of household, those figures do not apply to anyone in these three categories. In each case the standard deduction is simply zero, so you should list whatever itemized deductions you do have on Schedule A.
Your standard deduction is zero and you should itemize any deductions you have if: 1. Your filing status is married filing sepa- rately, and your spouse itemizes deduc- tions on their return; 2. You are filing a tax return for a short tax year because of a change in your annual accounting period; or 3. You are a nonresident or dual-status alien during the year.
Publication 501 (2024), Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information (IRS)
You are 65 the day before your birthday
The IRS treats you as reaching age 65 on the day before your actual 65th birthday. This matters for the 2024 standard deduction because the additional amount available to taxpayers age 65 or older is determined by whether you are 65 on the last day of the year, December 31, 2024. Because of this day-before rule, a taxpayer born on January 1, 1960 is considered 65 on December 31, 2024, and therefore qualifies for the higher standard deduction for 2024. In general, you can claim the additional standard deduction for age if you were born before January 2, 1960. For 2024, the additional amount is $1,950 if you are unmarried (including single or married filing separately), or $1,550 per qualifying individual if you are married filing jointly or a qualifying surviving spouse and only one spouse meets the age requirement. If both spouses are 65 or older and file jointly, each spouse's additional amount applies.
You are considered 65 on the day before your 65th birth- day. Therefore, you can take a higher standard deduction for 2024 if you were born before Jan- uary 2, 1960.
Publication 501 (2024), Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information (IRS)
What "blind" means, and the letter you need
If you are not totally blind, you must obtain a certified statement from an eye doctor - either an ophthalmologist or optometrist - to claim the higher standard deduction for blindness. The statement must confirm one of two conditions: either you cannot see better than 20/200 in your better eye even with glasses or contact lenses, or your field of vision is 20 degrees or less. If your eye condition is not likely to improve beyond these limits, the statement should include that fact. You must keep this statement in your records. Even if your vision can only be corrected beyond these limits by contact lenses that you can wear only briefly due to pain, infection, or ulcers, you can still qualify for the higher standard deduction for blindness if you otherwise meet the requirements. For 2024, the additional amount for blindness is $1,550 if you are married filing jointly or $1,950 if you are single or head of household, added to the base standard deduction amounts.
If you aren't totally blind, you must get a certified statement from an eye doc- tor (ophthalmologist or optometrist) stating that: 1. You can't see better than 20/200 in the better eye with glasses or contact lenses, or 2. Your field of vision is 20 degrees or less.
Publication 501 (2024), Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information (IRS)
Claiming your spouse's extra amount
You can claim an additional standard deduction amount for your spouse if your spouse is age 65 or older or blind, provided you meet one of two conditions. First, you file a joint return together. Second, you file a separate return and your spouse had no gross income for the year and cannot be claimed as a dependent by any other taxpayer. If you file separately and your spouse had income or could be claimed as someone else's dependent, you cannot take the extra amount for your spouse. The additional amount for each condition - age 65 or blindness - is $1,550 per qualifying condition per spouse. When both you and your spouse are 65 or older or blind and you file jointly, you may combine each spouse's applicable additional amounts with the married-filing-jointly base of $29,200. If only one spouse qualifies, only that spouse's additional amount is added. The same per-condition addition of $1,950 applies if you are unmarried. You must not itemize deductions to claim any of these amounts.
You can take the higher standard deduction if your spouse is age 65 or older or blind and: 1. You file a joint return, or 2. You file a separate return and your spouse had no gross income and can't be claimed as a dependent by another taxpayer.
Publication 501 (2024), Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information (IRS)
The deduction on a final return
When preparing a final tax return for someone who died during 2024, the standard deduction is generally the same as it would have been if the decedent had continued to live throughout the year. However, there is an important limitation for the age-based higher standard deduction. If the decedent was not actually 65 or older at the time of death, the higher standard deduction for age cannot be claimed on the final return, even if the decedent would have turned 65 before the end of 2024. The normal rule that you are considered 65 on the day before your 65th birthday does not apply after death. For example, if someone died on December 15, 2024 at age 64, their final return uses the standard deduction for someone under 65 in their filing status category - $14,600 if single, $29,200 if married filing jointly, or $21,900 if head of household - without any additional amount for age.
The standard deduc- tion for a decedent's final tax return is the same as it would have been had the decedent contin- ued to live. However, if the decedent wasn't 65 or older at the time of death, the higher stand- ard deduction for age can't be claimed.
Publication 501 (2024), Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information (IRS)
A short tax year from changing your accounting period gets no standard deduction at all
Under the 2024 federal income tax rules published by the IRS, your standard deduction is zero if you are filing a tax return for a short tax year because of a change in your annual accounting period. A short tax year arises when a taxpayer changes the period they use to report income, resulting in a return that covers less than a full year, and the IRS does not allow the regular standard deduction amounts for that return. Instead, you must itemize whatever deductions you are entitled to for the shortened period. This rule sits alongside two other situations where the standard deduction is also zero: when you are married filing separately and your spouse itemizes, and when you are a nonresident or dual-status alien. If you fall into the short-year category, the $14,600 amount for single filers, the $29,200 amount for those married filing jointly, and the $21,900 amount for heads of household simply do not apply to that return.
2. You are filing a tax return for a short tax year because of a change in your annual accounting period; or
Publication 501 (2024), Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information (IRS)
Filing as head of household frees you from your spouse's itemizing choice
Married taxpayers who qualify to file as head of household are not bound by the usual rule that denies the standard deduction to someone whose spouse itemizes separately. Normally, a married person filing separately cannot take the standard deduction if their spouse chooses to itemize - their standard deduction is forced to zero. But the head of household filing status provides an escape: a taxpayer who meets the tests for head of household can elect the standard deduction even when the other spouse has already elected to itemize on their own return. This is one of the reasons the head of household status can produce a lower combined tax burden than married filing separately for a couple still living together or otherwise qualifying. For 2024, the head of household standard deduction is $21,900, compared with only $14,600 for a single filer, and an additional $1,950 is added for a taxpayer who is 65 or older or blind and unmarried (including head of household). The rule lets the head-of-household filer ignore the spouse's itemizing choice entirely.
The head of household filing status allows you to choose the standard deduction even if your spouse chooses to itemize deduc- tions.
Publication 501 (2024), Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information (IRS)
Picked the wrong one? You can amend
A taxpayer who originally chose the standard deduction - or originally itemized - may later switch to the other method by filing an amended return on Form 1040-X. For example, if you filed your 2024 return using the standard deduction and then discover that your itemized deductions (state and local taxes, mortgage interest, charitable contributions, and so on) would have produced a larger total, you can file Form 1040-X to change to itemized deductions and claim the refund. The reverse is also true: if you itemized and later find that the standard deduction would have been larger, you may amend to claim the standard deduction instead. For 2024, the comparison that typically triggers an amendment is between the taxpayer's total itemized deductions and the standard deduction for their filing status - $14,600 if single, $29,200 if married filing jointly, $21,900 if head of household - plus any applicable aged or blind additions of $1,550 (married) or $1,950 (unmarried). Married taxpayers who filed separate returns must both make the same change and each consent to any additional tax assessed as a result.
If you don't itemize your deductions and later find that you should have itemized—or if you itemize your deductions and later find you shouldn't have—you can change your return by filing Form 1040-X.
Publication 501 (2024), Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information (IRS)
How each figure was verified
Each number below was read from a stored copy of the document named beside it, and checked to occur word for word in the quoted sentence. The digest is of that stored text.
Rev. Proc. 2023-34 (IRS)
- Single unmarried
Unmarried Individuals (other than Surviving Spouses and Heads of Households) (§ 1(j)(2)(C)) $14,600
- Married jointly
Married Individuals Filing Joint Returns and Surviving Spouses (§ 1(j)(2)(A)) $29,200
- Head of household
Heads of Households (§ 1(j)(2)(B)) $21,900
- Aged blind addition
the additional standard deduction amount under § 63(f) for the aged or the blind is $1,550.
- Aged blind addition unmarried
The additional standard deduction amount is increased to $1,950 if the individual is also unmarried and not a surviving spouse.