October 29, 2026
As of October 29, 2026. The IRS may publish the official 2027 numbers at any time, so check the IRS site for the latest before you rely on this.
This post is supplemental learning about how the tax system publishes its numbers. It is not tax advice. For decisions about your own situation, talk to a qualified tax professional.
Search "2027 tax brackets" or "2027 standard deduction" right now and you'll find confident-looking tables. As of October 29, 2026, none of them came from the IRS. They're projections.
How the official numbers get made. Many tax amounts, including the brackets and the standard deduction, adjust each year for inflation. The law tells the Treasury to publish the new tables: under 26 U.S.C. § 1(f)(1), the tables for the next year are due "not later than December 15" of each year. The IRS usually publishes them as a revenue procedure, a formal guidance document with the full tables, plus a news release summarizing the highlights.
Where things stand. The Treasury and IRS 2026–2027 Priority Guidance Plan, dated September 29, 2026, lists for October 2026 a "Revenue procedure under §1 and other Code sections regarding inflation adjusted items for 2027." As of this writing, the IRS's list of October 2026 news releases (IR-2026-117 through IR-2026-128) doesn't include it. So publishers like tax-research firms have released their own estimates, worked out from the inflation data. Those can be careful and useful. They're still estimates.
Not everything for 2027 is waiting. Some 2027 numbers are already official. For example, Revenue Procedure 2026-24 set the 2027 Health Savings Account contribution limits at $4,500 for self-only coverage and $9,000 for family coverage.
What's in force now. For tax year 2026, the year you'll file returns for in 2027, the IRS published the numbers on October 9, 2025 (IR-2025-103). The standard deduction is $16,100 for single filers and married people filing separately, $32,200 for married couples filing jointly, and $24,150 for heads of household. The IRS says those adjustments "generally apply to tax returns filed in 2027."
The skill underneath. This is a small, useful habit: before you use a number, ask where it came from. Is it the official source, or someone's projection of what the official source will say? Both can be right. Only one of them is the rule. Our Explore study on AI and tax returns makes the same point about a viral story: a story is not a measurement.
The IRS also just released a short guide on getting ready early, Publication 5349-A, Year-Round Tax Planning is for Everyone (announced October 23, 2026 in IR-2026-128). It covers checking withholding, organizing records and spotting scams.
Go deeper on Explore:
Sources: 26 U.S.C. § 1(f); 2026–2027 Priority Guidance Plan; IRS October 2026 news releases; Rev. Proc. 2026-24; IR-2025-103; IR-2026-128; Publication 5349-A.
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