IRS Sets 2027 Tax Brackets, and the 12% Rate Now Stretches to $52,025 for Single Filers and $104,050 for Married Couples

A single filer with $60,000 of taxable income in 2027 would owe $7,741.50 in federal income tax on that income, going by the rates the IRS published this week. That is not 22% of $60,000. It is $1,280 on the first layer, $4,707 on the second and $1,754.50 on the part that spills into the third, which is how the bracket system works.

The layers are set by the IRS’s 2027 inflation adjustments, released Nov. 5, 2026 as IR-2026-133. The tables are in Revenue Procedure 2026-35. The headline change for most households is how far the 12% rate reaches: to $52,025 of taxable income for single filers and $104,050 for married couples filing jointly.

Where each rate begins and ends

For a single filer, the 10% rate applies to taxable income up to $12,800. The 12% rate covers income from $12,800 to $52,025. Above that, the 22% rate runs to $109,125, the 24% rate to $208,325, the 32% rate to $264,550 and the 35% rate to $661,375. Income above $661,375 is taxed at 37%, according to the revenue procedure.

For married couples filing jointly, the 10% rate covers income up to $25,600 and the 12% rate runs from $25,600 to $104,050. The 22% rate goes to $218,250, the 24% rate to $416,650, the 32% rate to $529,100 and the 35% rate to $793,650. The 37% rate begins above $793,650.

Heads of household have their own scale. Their 10% rate ends at $18,250 and the 12% rate reaches $69,650. The Tax Foundation, which publishes the same table, notes that the thresholds are inflation-adjusted using the chained consumer price index and that adjusted parameters are expected to rise about 3.2% on average for 2027.

The $60,000 example, line by line

The $7,741.50 figure comes straight from the published thresholds. The first $12,800 is taxed at 10%, which is $1,280. The next slice, from $12,800 to $52,025, is $39,225 of income taxed at 12%, which is $4,707. The remaining $7,975, from $52,025 to $60,000, is taxed at 22%, which is $1,754.50. Adding the three gives $7,741.50.

The IRS’s own explanation of the system, on its rates and brackets page, describes the system as income taxed in layers called tax brackets. Crossing into a higher bracket changes the rate only on the dollars above the line, not on everything below it.

The example uses taxable income, which is what remains after deductions such as the standard deduction. The 2027 standard deduction is $16,600 for single filers and $33,200 for married couples filing jointly, per the IRS release, so a single worker would need roughly $76,600 of income before other adjustments to land at $60,000 of taxable income.

The same method works for a couple. A married pair filing jointly with $120,000 of taxable income would pay 10% on the first $25,600, which is $2,560, then 12% on the $78,450 between $25,600 and $104,050, which is $9,414, then 22% on the last $15,950, which is $3,509. The total is $15,483. These are illustrations of the published rates, not predictions for any return, and they leave out credits, which reduce tax after the brackets are applied.

Measured against 2025

The IRS’s rates page still lists the 2025 tables. For 2025, a single filer’s 12% rate ended at $48,475, and a married couple’s ended at $96,950. The 2027 lines are $3,550 and $7,100 higher, respectively. The 10% rate ended at $11,925 for single filers and $23,850 for joint filers in 2025, against $12,800 and $25,600 for 2027.

The page points readers to a separate 2026 release for that year’s figures rather than showing them, so the comparison is to 2025, not to the year in between. The site reported the 2027 standard deduction and earned income credit changes separately.

Other lines set in the same release

The brackets are one of almost 70 adjustments. The release also lists the alternative minimum tax exemption at $93,000 for unmarried individuals, phasing out from $515,950, and $144,700 for married couples filing jointly, phasing out from $1,031,900. The foreign earned income exclusion rises to $137,300 from $132,900, and the maximum Section 179 expensing amount rises to $2,640,000 from $2,560,000.

Personal exemptions stay at $0, which the IRS says the Working Families Tax Cuts made permanent. The Tax Foundation adds that filers 65 and older get an additional standard deduction of $2,100 if single or $1,700 if married, and that a separate $6,000 per-person senior deduction phases out at 6% above $75,000 of income for single filers and $150,000 for joint filers. That senior deduction is not inflation-indexed and expires at the end of 2028, according to the Tax Foundation.

What the thresholds do not decide

The brackets apply to tax year 2027, which is filed in 2028, according to the IRS release’s note that the adjustments generally apply to returns filed that year. Nothing in the release changes how much any household owes on its 2026 taxes, which are filed this coming winter.

The IRS framed the release around what it calls the Working Families Tax Cuts, and Chief Executive Officer Frank J. Bisignano said, “Hardworking American taxpayers will continue to benefit from the Working Families Tax Cuts.” The thresholds themselves are mechanical. They show where each rate starts and stops, and the actual tax depends on income, filing status, deductions and credits that vary by household.

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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.

Image: Carol M. Highsmith – Public domain/Wikimedia Commons