TCJA Sunset 2026 Calculator

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 made temporary changes to individual income tax rules that expire December 31, 2026. Starting 2027, tax brackets revert to higher pre-TCJA rates, the standard deduction halves, personal exemptions return (~$5,300/person), the SALT $10,000 cap disappears, the AMT exemption drops sharply, the QBI deduction ends, and the child tax credit reverts from $2,000 to $1,000.

Highly uncertain as of mid-2026. The Congressional Budget Office estimates a full extension would cost ~$4.6 trillion over 10 years. Republican proposals favor extension; Democratic proposals favor selective extension (keep middle-class cuts, restore upper-bracket rates). Most planners assume PARTIAL extension as the base case - but the math on this calculator assumes full sunset to show the maximum potential impact.

Possibly. If you expect to be in a higher post-sunset bracket, taking discretionary income (Roth conversions, deferred-comp distributions, RSU sales, capital gains harvest) in 2026 saves tax. Conversely, deferring deductions to 2027 (when itemizing is more attractive after SALT-cap removal and lower standard deduction) often makes sense. Run scenarios both ways before committing.

Yes - though the estate exemption ALREADY sunset on Jan 1 2026 (from ~$13.99M to ~$7M). That happened a year before the income-tax sunset. Wealthy clients who didn't use their exemption before 12/31/2025 lost roughly half permanently. The income-tax sunset is a separate event affecting all taxpayers.