If you get a raise next year, there’s a chance your tax rate won’t change thanks to new tax brackets recently released by the Internal Revenue Service.
And if you earn the same amount or less, your rate may even decrease.
The IRS usually adjusts tax brackets every year for inflation. This way, a household that reports nominally higher income — but not an increase in buying power — doesn’t tip over into a higher tax.
When taxpayers file returns in April 2027, they will see tax bracket thresholds that have increased by about 2.7% over the prior year, to account for inflation, according to the Tax Foundation.
This means a household that reports income near the top of a specific bracket in 2025 — and then reports slightly more income for 2026 — may not necessarily be bumped up to the next income bracket and face a higher tax rate.
Some taxpayers who report the same amount of income in 2026 as they did in 2025 could even see their taxes decrease.
For example, an individual filer who earns $100,000 in 2026 will owe approximately $13,170 in federal income tax — which is $279 less than that taxpayer would have owed the year before, according to NBC News calculations.
“We call it ‘bracket creep’ — where you would end up going into a higher tax bracket if they didn’t end up being adjusted for inflation,” said Tom O’Saben, director of tax content and government relations at the National Association of Tax Professionals, a trade group for accountants.
The IRS has also increased the standard deduction, or the amount a household can write off if they choose not to itemize their deductions.
For tax year 2026, the standard deduction will increase by 7.3% for all filers over the 2025 rate: This will come to $32,200 for married couples filing jointly, to $16,100 for single taxpayers and married individuals filing separately, and to $24,150 for individual filers who are heads of households.
The IRS released the new brackets this month despite the government shutdown, which has caused half its staff to be furloughed.
The Trump administration laid off nearly 1,500 Treasury Department employees earlier this month, according to court filings by the government. The cuts reportedly had an outsized impact on the IRS, especially its human resources and IT workforce.
