What changed for 2026

One page of differences. Below is every change between the 2025 and 2026 documents this site reads — the reporting thresholds, the rates and limits, and the forms themselves — each stated as what it was and what it now is, with the document that makes it so. A short list of what did not change follows: on a form, an unmoved line is also a fact.

Reporting thresholds

1. 1
   The general reporting threshold for Forms 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC — the §§6041/6041A amount at which a payer files — rose from $600 to $2,000. The new amount applies to payments made after December 31, 2025, and the statute indexes it for inflation beginning in calendar year 2027.

   DOC

   P.L. 119-21, §70433 · Publication 1099 (2026)

   YEAR

   2026

   LINE

   §§6041 / 6041A threshold

   CHECKED

   2026-10-08

   Read it in: Article 3 · Article 7 · Article 14 · Article 18
2. 2
   The Form 1099-K third-party settlement organization test is restored to its pre-2021 form: a form is filed only when gross reportable payments exceed $20,000 and the number of transactions exceeds 200. The $2,500 phase-in amount that had been set for calendar 2025 no longer stands — the restoration applies as if it had been in the 2021 act, Fact Sheet 2025-08 prints the $20,000 / 200 test as the operative rule for calendar 2025 and 2026 reporting, and Notice 2026-58 has formally obsoleted the three transition notices.

   DOC

   P.L. 119-21, §70432 · Fact Sheet 2025-08 · Notice 2026-58

   YEAR

   2026

   LINE

   §6050W(e) TPSO test

   CHECKED

   2026-10-08

   Read it in: Article 7 · Article 14 · Article 16

Rates and limits

1. 3
   The business standard mileage rate for 2026 is a split year. 2025 ran at 70¢ per mile all year; 2026 runs 72.5¢ for January 1 – June 30 and 76¢ for July 1 – December 31 — the second-half rate was raised mid-year, by Announcement 2026-11 modifying Notice 2026-10.

   DOC

   Notice 2025-5 · Notice 2026-10 · Announcement 2026-11

   YEAR

   2026

   LINE

   Business standard mileage rate

   CHECKED

   2026-10-08

   Read it in: Article 10
2. 4
   The maximum amount of combined wages and self-employment earnings subject to Social Security tax rose from $176,100 (2025) to $184,500 (2026). The 2026 Schedule SE prints the new amount on line 7 (2026 draft form; the amount itself is the Social Security Administration's annual determination).

   DOC

   SSA determination (Oct 2025) · Schedule SE (2026 draft)

   YEAR

   2026

   LINE

   Schedule SE, line 7

   CHECKED

   2026-10-08

   Read it in: Article 2
3. 5
   The elective deferral limit rose from $23,500 to $24,500, and the defined-contribution annual limit — the ceiling a SEP contribution is also measured against — rose from $70,000 to $72,000. Both amounts are set by the year's cost-of-living notice, Notice 2025-67.

   DOC

   Notice 2025-67 (I.R.B. 2025-49)

   YEAR

   2026

   LINE

   §402(g) deferral · §415(c) limit

   CHECKED

   2026-10-08

   Read it in: Article 13
4. 6
   The standard deduction amounts printed on Form 1040 rose: single $15,750 → $16,100; married filing jointly $31,500 → $32,200; head of household $23,625 → $24,150. (2026 amounts as printed on the IRS draft Form 1040 and in Publication 505 (2026).)

   DOC

   Form 1040 (2026 draft) · Publication 505 (2026)

   YEAR

   2026

   LINE

   Standard deduction amounts

   CHECKED

   2026-10-08

   Read it in: Article 1

The forms themselves

1. 7
   Form 1040's totals split (IRS draft as of September 17, 2026). Total tax, a single line 24 in 2025, becomes 24a (the same sum), 24b (an amount from Form 1062), and 24c (the two added). Total other payments and refundable credits, a single line 32, becomes 32a (the same sum), 32b (an amount from Schedule 3-A), and 32c (32a minus 32b). Two more moves: a new line 12f carries a charitable contribution deduction for non-itemizers, and lines 13a and 13b trade places — 13a now carries the additional deductions from Schedule 1-A, 13b the qualified business income deduction. (Schedule 1-A is named only — no line number for its total is stated anywhere on this site while the final 2026 Schedule 1-A is outstanding.)

   DOC

   Form 1040

   YEAR

   2026 (IRS draft)

   LINE

   Lines 12f · 13a/13b · 24a–24c · 32a–32c

   CHECKED

   2026-10-08

2. 8
   Schedule 2's Part II is renumbered (2026 draft). The single list headed “Other Taxes” becomes Section A, “Additional Taxes” (lines 4–15), and Section B (lines 16–20). The total still lands on line 21 and still enters Form 1040 at line 23.

   DOC

   Schedule 2 (Form 1040)

   YEAR

   2026 (IRS draft)

   LINE

   Part II

   CHECKED

   2026-10-08

   Read it in: Article 2
3. 9
   Schedule C gains a line (2026 draft). Interest, which in 2025 was line 16a (mortgage interest) and line 16b (“Other”), becomes three lines: 16a unchanged, a new line 16b, “Vehicle loan,” and line 16c carrying the “Other” interest that sat on 16b.

   DOC

   Schedule C (Form 1040)

   YEAR

   2026 (IRS draft)

   LINE

   Lines 16a–16c

   CHECKED

   2026-10-08

4. 10
   The Estimated Tax Worksheet gains two lines at its head — and Form 1040-ES (2026) is final, not a draft. A new line 2c takes an estimated additional deduction from Schedule 1-A, and a new line 2d adds lines 2a, 2b, and 2c; line 3 now subtracts line 2d. Nothing below line 3 moved (see “What did not change”). Schedule 1-A is named only, for the reason stated in the Form 1040 row above.

   DOC

   Form 1040-ES (final)

   YEAR

   2026

   LINE

   Worksheet 2-1, lines 2c–2d

   CHECKED

   2026-10-08

   Read it in: The worksheet page · Article 1

What did not change

Verified the same way — read in both years' documents, not assumed.

• Form 1040, line 26 still takes the year's estimated tax payments — the caption rolls the years, the line does not move. Read in: Article 1
• Schedule 1, lines 3, 15, and 16 are word-for-word the same in the 2026 draft: business income on line 3, the deductible part of self-employment tax on line 15, self-employed SEP, SIMPLE, and qualified plans on line 16. Read in: Article 5 · Article 2 · Article 13
• Schedule C's spine is untouched in the 2026 draft: lines 1, 7, 9, 24b, 28, 30, and 31 print the same captions, and line 31 still sends net profit to Schedule 1, line 3 and Schedule SE, line 2. Tracked in: the form-line index
• Schedule SE's mechanics are identical: the 92.35% factor, the $400 stop on line 4c, line 12 sending the tax to Schedule 2, line 4, and line 13 sending half of it to Schedule 1, line 15. Schedule 2's renumbering did not move that landing — line 4 is still where self-employment tax enters. Read in: Article 2
• The tail of the Estimated Tax Worksheet is the same: total estimated tax on line 11c, the $1,000 test still on line 14b, the installment still figured on line 15. Read in: Article 1 · Article 11
• The transportation per diem rate did not move: $80 per day in the continental United States and $86 outside it — printed again by Notice 2026-60 for the period beginning October 1, 2026, the same rate Notice 2025-54 printed for the year before. Recorded in: the per diem log
• Payment cards still have no Form 1099-K reporting threshold at all, in either year — the $20,000 / 200 test belongs to third-party settlement organizations only. Read in: Article 14
• The §6041 exceptions did not move with the threshold: royalties still report at $10 or more, and direct sales of consumer products for resale at $5,000 or more. Read in: Article 18
• Form 2553 has no annual edition to change: the form is still Rev. December 2017 and its instructions Rev. December 2020, with the election still due no more than 2 months and 15 days after the beginning of the tax year. Read in: Article 12