Publication 501 (2025)

2025 standard deduction, married filing jointly

The 2025 basic standard deduction for married filing jointly, or for a qualifying surviving spouse, is $31,500. That is the figure in Publication 501 (2025), Table 6, and in the 2025 Form 1040 instructions. It is not the car loan interest deduction, and it does not include interest on a vehicle loan.

2025 basic standard deduction

Revenue Procedure 2024-40 had listed $30,000 for a 2025 joint return. Section 70102 of Public Law 119-21 increased the base amounts, and Revenue Procedure 2025-32 removed that earlier subsection. The IRS now publishes $31,500 for 2025 joint returns. Use the later revenue procedure and Publication 501, not the superseded $30,000 figure.

If you are married filing separately and your spouse itemizes, Publication 501 says you cannot take the standard deduction. You must both use the same method. That rule is about Schedule A versus the standard deduction. It does not turn off Schedule 1-A.

Age 65 or blind in 2025

Publication 501’s worksheet for dependents, which uses the same additional amounts as the age-and-blind chart, says to multiply $2,000, or $1,600 if married, by the number of age and blindness boxes. Table 7 shows the results. A joint return with one box checked is $33,100. Two boxes is $34,700. Four boxes, both spouses 65 and blind, is $37,900. A single filer with one box is $17,750. Someone born before January 2, 1961, is treated as 65 at the end of 2025. If another person can claim you as a dependent, use Publication 501’s dependent worksheet instead of these totals.

There is a further enhanced deduction for seniors on Schedule 1-A, Part V, of up to $6,000 a person. Publication 501 says that amount is in addition to the higher standard deduction for age. It has its own MAGI phase-out, starting at $75,000, or $150,000 if married filing jointly. It is not the car-loan deduction, and this page does not calculate it.

The car loan deduction is added after this

You can deduct qualified passenger vehicle loan interest whether you take the standard deduction or itemize. The 2025 instructions say to claim it on Schedule 1-A, not on Schedule A. A joint couple who takes the $31,500 standard deduction and also has $2,000 of qualified car-loan interest, under the MAGI threshold, has both: the standard deduction in its own line, and $2,000 on Schedule 1-A, line 30, flowing to Form 1040, line 13b.

Do not add the interest into the $31,500 and do not compare the interest with the standard deduction to decide whether to itemize. The interest is available on either path. The phase-out uses Schedule 1-A MAGI, which starts from AGI, not from AGI minus the standard deduction. See what MAGI means here and the 2025 car-loan page.

2026, for the returns filed in 2027

Revenue Procedure 2025-32, section 4.14, sets the 2026 basic standard deduction at $32,200 for married filing jointly and surviving spouses, $16,100 for single or married filing separately, and $24,150 for head of household. The additional aged-or-blind amount for 2026 is $1,650 if married, and $2,050 if unmarried and not a surviving spouse. One spouse age 65 on a 2026 joint return is the basic $32,200 plus $1,650, which is $33,850. That sum is arithmetic from the revenue procedure, not a separate IRS table. The car-loan cap remains $10,000 and is still outside the standard deduction. Details for that filing season are on the 2026 page.