Market snapshot · Aug. 12, 2026 close
The American FilingSection
Filing seasons, rulings and the tax code
The federal estate and gift tax exemption rose to $15 million per person for 2026 with no sunset date, removing the cliff that has driven high-net-worth planning for the better part of a decade.
The overtime deduction runs up to $12,500 per taxpayer and phases out above $150,000 of modified income, and both provisions require substantiation many employers are not yet set up to provide.
The 30% residential clean energy credit and the home efficiency credit both terminated at the end of 2025 with no phase-down, leaving 2026 buyers of solar, batteries and heat pumps without a federal subsidy.
Last year's tax law retroactively restored the old payment-platform threshold and raised the 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC floors from $600 to $2,000 starting with 2026 payments.
Senators warned that a workforce down more than a quarter could struggle with a season complicated by new deductions, no Direct File option and phone support that has been under strain for years.
Georgia dropped below 5% three years ahead of schedule, Nebraska's top rate fell to 4.55% and Kentucky's to 3.5%, as trigger mechanisms adopted years ago kept firing.
A higher standard deduction, a state and local tax cap of $40,400 with a phase-down above roughly $500,500 of income, and a $2,000 charitable deduction for people who do not itemize.
The free government filing tool, piloted in 2024 and expanded the following year, is gone for the 2026 season, with most of the staff who built it no longer at the agency.