As of Oct. 2, 2026, the Internal Revenue Service has not released its inflation adjustments for tax year 2027. The newsroom address where that announcement would normally appear returns a “page not found” error, and the agency’s list of current-month news releases, last reviewed Oct. 1, contains nothing on 2027 brackets, the standard deduction or contribution limits. Any table of 2027 numbers now circulating online is therefore an estimate by someone other than the agency.
The distinction matters because the numbers are specific enough to look official. A projected standard deduction or bracket threshold reads the same as a published one until the IRS issues the real revenue procedure.
What the IRS pages show on the morning of Oct. 2
The expected location for the announcement is the IRS newsroom page for 2027 inflation adjustments. Read live at the time of writing, it does not exist. The agency’s current-month release list, last reviewed on Oct. 1, 2026, runs from IR-2026-103 to IR-2026-118. The newest items cover a call for volunteers for free tax services, a school choice program, relief tied to events in Israel, a proposed regulation on farmland sales and a new mobile app. None addresses 2027 amounts.
The retirement-limit pages tell the same story. The IRS IRA contribution limits page, reviewed Sept. 23, 2026, lists 2023 through 2026 and shows $7,500 for 2026, or $8,600 for those 50 or older, with no 2027 entry. The 401(k) limits page shows $24,500 for 2026 and likewise lists no 2027 figure.
The published 2026 numbers can be added up. A worker aged 50 or older can defer $24,500 plus an $8,000 catch-up, which is $32,500 in a 401(k), and the page lists a higher catch-up of $11,250 for ages 60 to 63, which makes $35,750. Add the $8,600 IRA limit for those 50 or older and the 2026 ceiling across both accounts reaches $41,100 for someone in the 50-to-59 group. Any 2027 version of those totals would be a guess until the agency says otherwise.
The 2026 numbers that are official
What does exist is Revenue Procedure 2025-32, the agency’s inflation adjustments for tax year 2026. It sets the standard deduction at $32,200 for married couples filing jointly, $16,100 for single filers and $24,150 for heads of household. The additional standard deduction for the aged or blind is $1,650, rising to $2,050 for someone who is unmarried and not a surviving spouse. The 37 percent bracket starts above $640,600 for single filers, and the maximum earned income credit is $8,231 for a filer with three or more qualifying children.
These apply to tax year 2026, meaning returns filed in early 2027. That timing is a common source of confusion: a “2027” label can mean the year of filing or the tax year itself. The adjustments for tax year 2027 would govern returns filed in 2028.
Arithmetic with the published figures
A married couple, both 65 or older, would combine the $32,200 standard deduction with two additional amounts of $1,650, for $35,500 of income shielded in tax year 2026. A single filer aged 65 or older who is unmarried and not a surviving spouse would add $2,050 to $16,100, for $18,150. A head of household in that position would add $2,050 to $24,150, for $26,200.
Those totals are computed from the published revenue procedure, not quoted from it, and they leave out any other deductions. They also show why a second-hand 2027 table is risky to plan with. A projection that is off by even a few hundred dollars on the deduction moves a withholding or estimated-payment calculation, and the error compounds across a year of paychecks.
Why projections are not the agency’s figures
Private tax publishers and software firms estimate next year’s inflation adjustments each autumn, and the good ones label the result a projection. An estimate is a forecast of what a formula might produce, and the final numbers come from the agency’s own revenue procedure, not from outside calculators. The IRS itself has not said when it will publish; no release date appears on any page read for this report. A reader who sees a table with no link to an IRS revenue procedure or news release has no reason to treat it as final.
The checkable test is simple. The agency’s figures arrive as a numbered news release and a revenue procedure, both hosted on irs.gov. Until one of those appears in the release list, the 2026 revenue procedure remains the most recent set of official amounts, and the page reviewed on Oct. 1 is the one to watch.
For a household doing year-end planning, the practical consequence is timing. Decisions that hinge on a 2027 number, such as the size of a retirement contribution or a withholding change, can use the 2026 amounts as a floor for comparison. The agency’s release list is the place to confirm when the real figures land.
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AI tools helped draft this article, and its statements about IRS pages were checked against those pages on the day of writing.
