Standard Deduction Amounts by Filing Status 2025

Quick answer: For 2025 tax returns, the standard deduction amount depends on your filing status: it's lowest for Single and Married Filing Separately, doubled for Married Filing Jointly/Qualifying Surviving Spouse, and in between for Head of Household. Extra amounts apply if you're 65 or older or blind.

2025 Standard Deduction Amounts

According to Single or Married filing separately $15,750, Married filing jointly or Qualifying surviving spouse 31,500, Head of household 23,625¹.

Why the difference? Filing statuses reflect household composition and support responsibilities:

• Married Filing Jointly gets exactly double the Single amount, since on a joint return, you and your spouse report your combined income and deduct your combined allowable expenses².
• Head of Household falls between Single and MFJ because it's designed for unmarried people supporting a qualifying dependent — if you qualify to file as head of household, your tax rate will usually be lower than the rates for single or married filing separately, and you will also receive a higher standard deduction than if you file as single or married filing separately³.
• Married Filing Separately matches the Single amount, but with a catch: if your spouse itemizes deductions, you can't claim the standard deduction. If you can claim the standard deduction, your basic standard deduction is half the amount allowed on a joint return⁴.

Additional Amounts for Age or Blindness

If you (or your spouse) were born before January 2, 1961, or are blind, you add extra to the base amount rather than using Table 6. For example, a Single filer checking one box (age or blind) gets $17,750, and two boxes (both age and blind) gets $19,750; for Married Filing Jointly, the amounts range from $33,100 (one box) up to $37,900 (four boxes checked, i.e., both spouses 65+ and blind), as shown in Table 7⁵.

There's also a brand-new enhanced deduction for seniors: beginning in 2025, taxpayers who are age 65 or older may be eligible for the enhanced deduction for seniors, with a maximum amount of $6,000 per person ($12,000 if married filing jointly and both spouses are eligible)⁶. This is separate from the age/blind add-on above.

What it depends on:

• Your marital status on the last day of the tax year
• Whether you or your spouse are 65+ or blind
• Whether your spouse itemizes (if you file separately)
• Whether someone else can claim you as a dependent (different worksheet applies)

Because eligibility for the enhanced senior deduction and other 2025 changes can interact with your specific situation (marital status changes, dependency, itemizing), it's worth checking with a CPA to confirm which amount and combination applies to your return.