Schedule A · Itemized deductions · Tax year 2026

SALT Cap Calculator: The 2026 State and Local Tax Limit

For tax year 2026, the deduction for state and local taxes is capped at $40,400 per return. Above $505,000 of modified adjusted gross income the cap shrinks by 30 percent of the excess, and it never falls below $10,000. Married filing separately works with half amounts throughout: a $20,200 cap, a phasedown start of $252,500, and a $5,000 floor. Enter the taxes you paid and your income, and the calculator estimates your cap and the deductible amount. A second part compares your itemized total with the standard deduction for your filing status.

Last reviewed: November 4, 2026.

Checked against IRS sources · Reviewed November 4, 2026

The SALT cap estimator and the comparison

Your filing status and income Filing status Modified adjusted gross income estimate (dollars)

For most filers this is the same as adjusted gross income. The law adds back a few foreign income exclusions; the modified AGI section below names them.

State and local taxes you paid in 2026 State and local income taxes paid (dollars, optional)

Withholding, estimated payments, and amounts paid with a 2025 return all count, in the year paid. If you take general sales taxes instead of income taxes, enter the sales tax figure here; the law allows one or the other, not both.

Real estate and personal property taxes paid (dollars, optional)

Property taxes you paid on your home, land, vehicles, and other personal property. Leave either field blank if you paid none of that kind; a blank counts as zero.

The comparison (optional) Your other itemized deductions for 2026 (dollars, optional)

Mortgage interest, charitable donations, and any other itemized deductions, added together, without the state and local taxes above. Charitable donations enter this figure only above the new floor of 0.5 percent of adjusted gross income for itemizers; the charitable deduction calculator works that floor out. Leave blank to compare on the state and local taxes alone.

Estimate only. This tool gives a general estimate based on the figures you entered and the published IRS rules cited on this page. It is not tax advice, it is not a tax return, and it cannot be relied on to avoid any tax penalty. Tax law and IRS guidance change. Confirm your figures against the current IRS instructions for the form you file, or ask a qualified tax professional.

Nothing you enter is sent anywhere. The calculation runs in your browser.

the cap is per return, not per person

The 2026 figures, in one table

The limit on the state and local tax deduction, tax year 2026
Cap before any phasedown	$40,400 per return; $20,200 married filing separately
Phasedown starts at	$505,000 of modified AGI; $252,500 married filing separately
Phasedown rate	The cap is reduced by 30 percent of modified AGI over the start
Floor	The cap never falls below $10,000; $5,000 married filing separately
Floor reached at	Modified AGI of about $606,333; about $353,833 married filing separately
What the cap covers	State and local income taxes (or general sales taxes in their place), real estate taxes, and personal property taxes, added together
Claimed on	Schedule A (Form 1040), itemized deductions only
Years	The higher cap runs 2025 to 2029, rising 1 percent a year from 2027. From 2030 the cap returns to $10,000

How the phasedown works, in the statute's own order

Public Law 119-21, section 70120, rewrote the limit in two steps, and the order matters for separate returns. First, section 164(b)(7) of the Internal Revenue Code sets an applicable limitation amount: $40,400 for 2026. That amount is then reduced by 30 percent of the amount by which your modified AGI exceeds the threshold of $505,000, and the reduction cannot take it below $10,000. Second, section 164(b)(6) applies that limitation amount to your taxes, and for a married individual filing a separate return it takes half of it. The separate return also measures its phasedown excess over half the threshold, $252,500. Worked through, a separate return starts at a $20,200 cap and phases down to a floor of $5,000, reached at the same $101,333 of excess income, which for a separate return means modified AGI of about $353,833.

The deductible amount is then the smaller of two figures: the state and local taxes you actually paid, and the cap after any phasedown. Paying more tax than the cap does not raise the deduction, and the statute provides no carryover of the excess into a later year.

Modified AGI for this limit

Modified adjusted gross income here is adjusted gross income increased by any amount excluded from gross income under section 911 (the foreign earned income exclusion), section 931 (income from Puerto Rico), or section 933 (income from American Samoa). Filers with none of those exclusions use their adjusted gross income as it stands.

Itemize, or take the standard deduction

The state and local tax deduction exists only inside itemized deductions, so its value depends on a comparison your return makes every year: the standard deduction for your filing status, or the total of your itemized deductions, whichever the return applies. The standard deduction for 2026 is $16,100 for single filers and married filing separately, $32,200 on a joint return, and $24,150 for a head of household (Revenue Procedure 2025-32), before the extra amounts for age and blindness that some filers add. The comparison in the calculator adds your deductible state and local taxes to the other itemized deductions you entered and sets the total beside the standard deduction for your status. It states which total is larger on the figures entered. It does not decide the question for a finished return, where other rules can move either side.

Questions and answers

Is the $40,400 cap per person or per return?

Per return. A joint return works with the same $40,400 limitation amount as a single return, and the phasedown starts at the same $505,000 of modified AGI for both. A married person filing a separate return works with half amounts: a $20,200 cap before any phasedown, a phasedown start of $252,500, and a floor of $5,000.

I paid more state and local tax than the cap. Can I carry the extra into next year?

No. Section 164 as amended provides no carryover for the amount over the cap. The excess is simply not deducted, in 2026 or in any later year.

What is modified AGI for this limit?

Adjusted gross income, increased by any amounts excluded from income under the foreign earned income exclusion and the Puerto Rico and American Samoa exclusions (sections 911, 931 and 933 of the Internal Revenue Code). Most filers have none of those amounts, so for most people modified AGI is the same as adjusted gross income.

What happens to the cap after 2026?

The statute raises both the limitation amount and the threshold by 1 percent a year for 2027, 2028 and 2029, so the 2027 limitation amount is $40,804 and the 2027 threshold is $510,050. For tax years beginning after 2029, the limitation amount returns to $10,000 and the phasedown goes away with it.

Do I have to itemize to use this deduction?

Yes. The state and local tax deduction is an itemized deduction, claimed on Schedule A (Form 1040). It only forms part of your return if your itemized deductions in total come to more than the standard deduction for your filing status, which is the comparison the lower half of the calculator on this page makes.

Sources

Public Law 119-21, enacted July 4, 2025, section 70120. Amends section 164(b)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code so the aggregate deduction may not exceed the applicable limitation amount, half of it for a married individual filing a separate return, and adds section 164(b)(7): the 2026 limitation amount of $40,400 at paragraph (7)(A)(ii), the phasedown of 30 percent of modified AGI over the $505,000 threshold at paragraphs (7)(B)(i) and (ii), the $10,000 floor at paragraph (7)(B)(iii), and the modified AGI definition at paragraph (7)(B)(iv). Read in the full statutory text at govinfo.gov, November 4, 2026.
IRS, Revenue Procedure 2025-32, announced in release IR-2025-103, October 9, 2025. The tax year 2026 standard deduction amounts used in the comparison.
Schedule A (Form 1040), Itemized Deductions. The state and local tax deduction is an itemized deduction, entered with the other Schedule A lines; it has no place on a return that takes the standard deduction.

Last reviewed: November 4, 2026.