Key Takeaways
- Next year’s tax brackets for a single filer start the 22% rate at $52,025, half the $104,050 line for a married couple filing jointly.
- A married couple with $90,000 of taxable income would owe $10,288 in federal income tax in 2027, while a widow filing single on $75,000 would owe $11,041.50.
- That’s $753.50 more tax on $15,000 less taxable income, because the single brackets and standard deduction are half the joint ones while the survivor’s income usually falls by much less than half.
- A surviving spouse can still file jointly for the year of the death, so income taken before Dec. 31 is taxed on the wider joint brackets.
If you lost your spouse this year, I’m truly sorry. And I have some news that won’t make it any easier: the first tax return you file on your own can cost you more than the last one you filed together, even on less income.
The IRS put out 2027’s tax brackets on Nov. 5, so we now know what that first single return, the one you’ll file in 2028, will look like.
A sixth less income, half the brackets
Let’s say, hypothetically, that you and your spouse had $90,000 of taxable income a year, after the standard deduction. When one spouse dies, the survivor keeps the larger of the two Social Security checks and the smaller one stops, so household income usually falls. Say yours falls enough that your taxable income next year comes to $75,000, $15,000 less than the two of you had.
Had the two of you filed jointly next year, you’d have owed $10,288 in federal income tax on that $90,000. Filing single on $75,000, you’ll owe $11,041.50. That’s $753.50 more tax on $15,000 less taxable income.
6 safe dividend stocks paying retirees 6%+ yields
There are over 100 stocks paying 6%+ annual dividends today.
But after an extensive investment review leveraging TIKR’s proprietary data, we now believe only six of them are truly safe for retirees.
They’re all yours for free as part of our new investment report, which you can access right here.
The joint return ends with the year of the death
For the year your spouse dies, you’re considered married for the whole year and can still file jointly. (A widow with a dependent child at home may be able to keep the joint brackets for two more years, as a qualifying surviving spouse.) Everyone else files single from the next year on. And for 2027, the single brackets are exactly half the joint ones through the 22% rate:
- 10% on the first $12,800 of taxable income ($25,600 joint)
- 12% from there up to $52,025 ($104,050 joint)
- 22% from there up to $109,125 ($218,250 joint)
The standard deduction halves the same way, to $16,600 for a single filer from $33,200 on a joint return. So your taxable income falls by less than your total income does, and the brackets it’s taxed in are half as wide.
Every dollar over $52,025 is taxed at 22%
On a joint return, all $90,000 is taxed at 10% or 12%, since the 22% bracket doesn’t start until $104,050. On a single return, $22,975 of your $75,000 is above the $52,025 line, and each of those dollars is taxed at 22%:
| Slice of taxable income | Joint, $90,000 | Single, $75,000 |
|---|---|---|
| At 10% | $25,600 = $2,560 | $12,800 = $1,280 |
| At 12% | $64,400 = $7,728 | $39,225 = $4,707 |
| At 22% | $0 | $22,975 = $5,054.50 |
| Total tax | $10,288 | $11,041.50 |
You pay $4,301 less at 10% and 12% than the two of you would have. Then you pay $5,054.50 at 22%, which the two of you never paid at all. So your federal tax goes from 11.4% of taxable income to 14.7%, on a sixth less income.
This year is still a joint year
If you were widowed this year, your 2026 return can still be a joint one, so you have until Dec. 31 to use the wider brackets. On a 2026 joint return, the 22% rate starts at $100,800 of taxable income. Say this year’s joint return also has $90,000 of taxable income: that leaves $10,800 that can still be taxed at 12%. Money you’d otherwise take out of a traditional IRA next year, or convert to a Roth, is taxed in the year it comes out. So moving $10,800 of it into 2026 saves you $1,080, the gap between the 12% you’d pay now and the 22% you’d pay next year. (Your 2027 taxable income would still be $64,200 after the move, above the $52,025 line, so every one of those dollars would have been taxed at 22%.)
Frankly, I think this is one of the harsher corners of the tax code, since the bigger bill comes in the first year someone is on their own. But at least you can see it coming, and the last joint return is one more chance to use the wider brackets. The 2028 brackets are due next fall. If they keep the single lines at half the joint ones, as 2026’s and 2027’s do, you’ll keep paying 22% on every dollar of taxable income above the single line.
Enjoy your retirement in style with these safe 6%+ dividend yields
Dividends can hold the key to enormous wealth. But only if you buy the right ones.
Picking the right high-yield dividend stock can be the difference between a dream retirement…and scraping by every month, waiting for the next Social Security check to clear.
We’ve identified six stocks yielding 6%+ that we believe every retiree should know about right now.
Disclaimer:
Please note that the articles on TIKR are not intended to serve as investment or financial advice from TIKR or our content team, nor are they recommendations to buy or sell any stocks. We create our content based on TIKR Terminal’s investment data and analysts’ estimates. Our analysis might not include recent company news or important updates. TIKR has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading, and happy investing!
