What Is the Standard Deduction if You’re Blind or Over 65?

If you’re 65 or older, legally blind, or both, you add a fixed dollar amount to the base standard deduction for each condition that applies. For 2026, the base standard deduction runs from $16,100 for single filers to $32,200 for married couples filing jointly.¹ The additional amount is $2,000 per qualifying condition for unmarried filers and $1,600 per condition for married filers, based on the most recently published (2025) figures; the 2026 numbers will be comparable.² Seniors 65 and older can also claim a separate enhanced deduction of up to $6,000 per person through 2028, which stacks on top of everything else.³

Who Qualifies

Two conditions trigger an additional standard deduction: reaching age 65, and meeting the IRS definition of legal blindness. You can qualify under one or both. If both apply, you get two separate additions on top of your base deduction.⁴

The Age 65 Rule

The IRS considers you 65 on the day before your 65th birthday. For the 2026 tax year, that means anyone born before January 2, 1962 qualifies.² If you turn 65 on January 1, 2027, you’re still treated as 65 for 2026.

On a joint return, each spouse is evaluated separately. One spouse being 65 or older adds one amount; both qualifying adds two. If your spouse died during the year, you can only count them as 65 or older if they had actually reached that age before death.⁴

Legal Blindness

You meet the IRS definition of legal blindness if either of the following is true, even with glasses or contacts: your best-corrected visual acuity in your better eye is 20/200 or worse, or your field of vision is restricted to 20 degrees or less.⁵ You need a certified statement from your eye doctor. You don’t send it in with your return, but keep it with your tax records in case the IRS asks.⁶

Blindness is assessed on December 31. Each spouse’s vision counts independently on a joint return.

How Much Extra You Get

The base standard deductions for 2026 are $16,100 for single and married filing separately, $24,150 for head of household, and $32,200 for married filing jointly or a qualifying surviving spouse.¹ The additional amount you layer on top depends on your filing status.

Single and Head of Household

Unmarried filers add $2,000 per qualifying condition. A single filer who is 65 and not blind gets $16,100 + $2,000 = $18,100. A single filer who is both 65 and legally blind adds two $2,000 amounts, reaching $20,100. A head of household filer who is 65 and blind reaches about $28,150.

Married Filing Jointly

Married filers add $1,600 per qualifying condition, and each spouse can qualify independently for both age and blindness. A couple where both spouses are 65 but neither is blind adds $3,200 to the $32,200 base for $35,400. If both spouses are 65 and both legally blind, four $1,600 additions bring the total to $38,600.

Married Filing Separately

The $1,600 per condition also applies to married filing separately, built on the $16,100 base. A separate filer who is 65 and blind adds $3,200 for about $19,300.

The Enhanced Deduction for Seniors

Starting in 2025 and running through 2028, the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act created a separate enhanced deduction worth up to $6,000 per qualifying individual for taxpayers age 65 and older. It’s not a replacement for the age-related additional standard deduction. It stacks on top.³

A married couple filing jointly where both spouses are 65 can claim $12,000 total. Married taxpayers must file jointly to claim it; married filing separately is locked out.³

The enhanced deduction is available to both itemizers and non-itemizers. Even if you itemize on Schedule A, you can still claim this deduction. It’s reported on Schedule 1-A (Form 1040), separate from the standard deduction line.⁷

Income Phase-Out

The enhanced deduction phases out at higher incomes. It begins to shrink at $75,000 of modified adjusted gross income for single filers and $150,000 for joint filers, reduced by six cents for every dollar of income above the threshold.⁸ It disappears entirely at $175,000 (single) and $250,000 (joint).

For example, a single 67-year-old with $100,000 of modified AGI is $25,000 over the threshold. At six cents on the dollar, that reduces the deduction by $1,500, leaving $4,500.

Blind but Under 65

The enhanced deduction is age-based only. A legally blind taxpayer under 65 still gets the regular additional standard deduction ($2,000 unmarried, $1,600 married) but does not qualify for the $6,000 enhanced deduction.² A taxpayer who is both 65 and legally blind gets all of it: the age addition, the blindness addition, and the enhanced deduction.

Worked Totals

The following combine 2026 base amounts with 2025 additional amounts (which may adjust slightly for 2026) and assume income is below the enhanced deduction phase-out.

Single, age 67, not blind: $16,100 + $2,000 + $6,000 = $24,100
Single, age 67, legally blind: $16,100 + $2,000 + $2,000 + $6,000 = $26,100
Single, age 50, legally blind: $16,100 + $2,000 = $18,100 (no enhanced deduction)
Married filing jointly, both 67, neither blind: $32,200 + $1,600 + $1,600 + $12,000 = $47,400
Married filing jointly, both 67, both blind: $32,200 + $6,400 + $12,000 = $50,600
Head of household, age 70, not blind: $24,150 + $2,000 + $6,000 = $32,150

If You’re Claimed as a Dependent

Taxpayers who can be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s return have a limited base standard deduction: the greater of $1,350 (for 2025 and 2026) or the dependent’s earned income plus $450, capped at the regular base for their filing status.⁹

The additional amounts for age and blindness still apply in full on top of that limited base. If you’re an unmarried dependent with $5,000 of earned income, your base is $5,450. Add two $2,000 amounts for age and blindness and you reach $9,450.⁹

When You Can’t Use the Standard Deduction

Some filers can’t take the standard deduction at all, no matter their age or vision:²

You’re married filing separately and your spouse itemizes. You must itemize too.¹⁰
You’re a nonresident alien or dual-status alien, with narrow exceptions for certain taxpayers married to U.S. citizens or residents who elect resident treatment for the full year.
You’re filing a short-year return because of a change in accounting period.
You’re filing for an estate, trust, or partnership.

How to Claim It on Your Return

To get the additional standard deduction for age or blindness, check the applicable boxes on line 12d of Form 1040 or Form 1040-SR. The form asks whether the taxpayer, and spouse on a joint return, was born before a specified date or was blind at year-end. Once any box is checked, you calculate the deduction using the worksheet in the instructions rather than the standard deduction table.⁶

The enhanced senior deduction is claimed separately on Schedule 1-A (Form 1040). That’s a different step from checking the age and blindness boxes, and it’s easy to miss if you file by hand.⁷ Tax software should pick it up from your date of birth.

1
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026, Including Amendments From the One, Big, Beautiful Bill
2
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 551, Standard Deduction
3
Internal Revenue Service. One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act – Tax Deductions for Working Americans and Seniors
4
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 501 (2025), Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information
5
Social Security Administration. Code of Federal Regulations 404-1581 – Blindness
6
Internal Revenue Service. Line Instructions for Forms 1040 and 1040-SR
7
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return
8
Internal Revenue Service. Check Your Eligibility for the New Enhanced Deduction for Seniors
9
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 501 (2025), Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information – Section: Standard Deduction for Dependents
10
Internal Revenue Service. Itemized Deductions, Standard Deduction