2027 Tax Guide
Strategies for Individuals and Businesses
What’s New
The Five Changes Most Likely to Affect Your 2027 Plan
Every year brings changes to the rates, thresholds, and rules that shape your tax picture. 2025 brought significant changes for taxpayers with the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). 2026, in contrast, did not see significant tax legislation pass through Congress. For the 2026 tax year, the changes are narrower.
Here's what to watch:
Work with your EisnerAmper advisor to see which of these changes impacts your specific situation this year, and what changes could be coming in 2027 after the mid-term elections.
Section 1:
Income Tax Planning
The numbers behind this year’s return and how timing can change what you owe.
The same income can produce very different tax bills depending on the timing. This section covers the decisions that can change your outcome before deadlines pass, including when to accelerate or defer income, which rate and estimated payment rules apply this year, and how to plan for the alternative minimum tax (AMT).
Tax Planning Strategies
Effective tax planning happens before year-end, not after. The choices you make about recognizing income, prepaying deductions, and coordinating strategies across your full financial picture determine how much you’ll pay in taxes each year.
Timing of Income and Deductions
Depending on your situation, you may be able to defer or accelerate income and deductions to benefit your tax position. If you expect a higher tax rate next year, accelerating income to the current year and/or deferring deductions to the next year can reduce your tax liability. If your rate is likely lower next year, or your AMT status flips between years, deferring income and prepaying deductible expenses before December 31 can be beneficial. Cash-basis business owners expecting a lower tax rate next year may be able to delay billing and receipt of payment until January for work already performed this year. Outstanding margin interest is deductible only when paid, so settle it before year-end if you want the deduction now.
Capital Gains and Losses
Review realized and unrealized positions together before year-end. You can sell appreciated positions for a gain and offset it with both short and long-term losses, with a total loss of up to $3,000 allowed. If long-term gains exceed your losses, use long-term loss positions first, then short-term, since short-term gains can be taxed as high as 40.8% (including the Net Investment Income Tax). A worthless security or a bad debt you have not yet written off is a deduction hiding in plain sight, provided you have the proper substantiation. Be careful of the wash-sale rule: a loss is disallowed if you buy the same or a substantially identical security either 30 days before or after the sale.
Charitable Giving
Donating appreciated securities to an eligible charity held more than one year avoids capital gains tax on the appreciation while still delivering a fair-market-value deduction. Because you can only deduct the larger of your standard or itemized deductions, bunching several years of giving into one year, potentially through a donor-advised fund, can push you back over the standard deduction threshold. Bunching charitable donations has become more valuable now that itemized deductions face both a 0.5% AGI floor and an additional reduction of up to 5.41% for top-bracket filers. For those taking the standard deduction, don’t forget the new deduction of up to $2,000 for charitable donations.
Retirement and Business Timing
Maximize deductible retirement plan and IRA contributions before the relevant deadline and weigh a Roth conversion in any year when your rate is unusually low. Business owners considering new equipment should confirm the placed-in-service date: 100% bonus depreciation and the $2.5 million Section 179 limit are only available for property placed in service, not just purchased, by December 31.
Action Items to Review with Your Advisor
These items are intended to guide a planning conversation with your advisor and should be evaluated based on your specific tax situation.
- Project your income and effective tax rate for this and next year before making any timing decisions.
- Review capital gains and losses together and confirm there is no wash-sale exposure before booking a loss.
- Consider gifting appreciated securities instead of cash and evaluate bunching gifts.
- Confirm placed-in-service dates on equipment purchases and maximize retirement contributions before their deadlines.
- Run an AMT projection before finalizing any of the above.
Not Sure How to Time Your Income and Deductions?
An EisnerAmper tax advisor can project your income and tax rate for this year and next, before the deadlines pass.
Tax Rates, Estimated Tax, and AMT
Rates, payment deadlines, and the AMT work together to determine not just how much you owe, but when you owe it. OBBBA made many prior thresholds permanent, but most of them still move with inflation each year. These three areas are best reviewed together, since a decision that helps one can quietly work against another.
Tax Rates
The effective rate of federal tax on income can range from 0% to as much as 50%, depending on the nature of your income and whether the AMT or Medicare Contribution Tax on net investment income (also known as the net investment income tax) applies.
2026 Ordinary Income Tax Brackets and Rates
| Married Filing Jointly | Single Filers | Married Filing Separately | Head of Household | |
| 10% | $0 - $24,800 | $0 - $12,400 | $0 - $12,400 | $0 - $17,700 |
| 12% | $24,801 - $100,800 | $12,401 - $50,400 | $12,401 - $50,400 | $17,701 - $67,450 |
| 22% | $100,801 - $211,400 | $50,401 - $105,700 | $50,401 - $105,700 | $67,451 - $105,700 |
| 24% | $211,401 - $403,550 | $105,701 - $201,775 | $105,701 - $201,775 | $105,701 - $201,775 |
| 32% | $403,551 - $512,450 | $201,776 - $256,225 | $201,776 - $256,225 | $201,776 - $256,225 |
| 35% | $512,451 - $768,700 | $256,226 - $640,600 | $256,226 - $384,350 | $256,226 - $640,600 |
| 37% | $768,701+ | $640,601+ | $384,351+ | $640,601+ |
While short-term capital gains are taxed at the same rates as ordinary income, capital gains on investments held for over one year are given preferential tax rates.
2026 Long-Term Capital Gains Income Tax Brackets and Rates
| Married Filing Jointly | Single Filers | Heads of Household | Married Filing Separately | |
| 0% | $0 - $98,900 | $0 - $49,950 | $0 - $66,200 | $0 - $49,950 |
| 15% | $98,901 - $613,700 | $49,951 - $545,500 | $66,200 - $579,00 | $49,951 - $306,850 |
| 20% | $631,701+ | $545,501+ | $579,601+ | $306,851+ |
Both short and long-term capital gains are subject to the 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT) once AGI exceeds $200,000 ($250,000 if married filing jointly), pushing the maximum income tax on short-term gain up to 40.8%.
Action Items to Review with Your Advisor
- Confirm which bracket your last dollar of income falls into before deciding whether to accelerate or defer income.
- Remember that short-term gains are taxed at your ordinary rate, not the lower long-term capital gains rate.
Where Does Your Last Dollar of Income Land?
Your effective rate depends on your type of income and surtaxes like the net investment income tax. An EisnerAmper tax advisor can help you see where you stand.
Estimated Tax
Americans pay their taxes on their income as they earn it, and failure to make estimated payments can result in penalties. You will not be subject to an underpayment penalty if you pay the lesser of 90% of this year’s actual tax or 100% of last year’s tax (110% if your prior-year AGI exceeds $150,000, or $75,000 if married filing separately). Taxpayers make these payments via payroll withholding or quarterly estimated payments.
If income arrives unevenly, such as from a bonus, business income, or a large late-year sale, the annualized income installment method lets you pay based on actual quarterly income instead of using an even split, which can reduce a specific quarter payment. If an earlier quarter came up short, increasing withholding for the rest of the year still helps, as withholding is treated as paid evenly across the year, so an increase can retroactively cover a shortfall in a way a catch-up estimated payment cannot.
Action Items to Review with Your Advisor
- Recalculate remaining quarterly payments after any significant late-year income event.
- If you are behind on an earlier quarter, increase withholding rather than sending a catch-up payment, since withholding is treated as paid evenly across the year.
Behind on Estimated Payments?
If income arrived unevenly this year, an EisnerAmper tax advisor can help you recalculate what you owe and when.
Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT)
The AMT is intended to equalize income tax collection in situations where high-income taxpayers may owe less than the tentative minimum tax. It is a parallel tax calculation with a rate of 26% on the first $244,500 of income and 28% on the portion above that. Incentive stock option exercises, state and local tax deductions above the $40,400 cap, and certain depreciation add-backs are the most common triggers, since many regular-tax deductions are not allowed for AMT purposes.
The 2026 exemption is $140,200 for joint filers and $90,100 for single filers, but it now phases out twice as fast as before 2026: 50 cents of the exemption disappears for every dollar of income above $1,000,000 (joint filers) or $500,000 (other filers). The exemption is fully gone by $1,280,400 and $680,200, respectively. The OBBBA reset inflation-adjusted numbers for 2026, so taxpayers who were edge cases in 2025 should be particularly mindful of the AMT.
| Item | Regular Tax | AMT |
| State & local tax deduction | Deductible up to $40,400 in 2026 | Not deductible at all |
| Mortgage interest (acquisition debt) | Deductible | Also deductible — no difference |
| ISO exercise spread | Not taxed until the stock is sold | Taxed as income in the year you exercise |
| Standard deduction | Reduces taxable income | Not allowed — added back |
| Tax rate structure | Up to 37% | 26% up to $244,500 of AMT income, 28% above |
Do You Expect to Owe AMT this Year?
YES
AMT in This Year
- Defer deductions not allowed for AMT (like SALT) into next year
- Accelerate deductions allowed for AMT, like charitable gifts, into this year
- Accelerate ordinary income and short-term gains into this year for the lower AMT rate
- Delay ISO exercises, or consider a disqualifying disposition if already exercised
If next year too: coordinate a multi-year approach with your advisor.
NO
Not This Year
- Prepay deductions not allowed for AMT now, before you lose the benefit next year
- Prepay deductions allowed for AMT (charitable gifts) to use this year’s higher ordinary rate
- Defer bonuses and other ordinary income to next year’s lower AMT rate
- Exercise ISOs before year-end — tax-free this year up to the exemption amount
If next year either: plan around regular tax rates.
Action Items to Review with Your Advisor
- Run an AMT projection before exercising incentive stock options or accelerating deductions.
- If in the AMT this year but not next, defer deductions not allowed for AMT purposes, such as state and local taxes above the cap.