Need to Know Tax › Follow-up: what changed in 2025 and still applies
The 2025 law, still running
The bigger standard deduction and child credit
The 2017 tax cuts were set to expire after 2025. The 2025 law made most of them permanent and raised the standard deduction and the child tax credit. Here is what carried forward, what changed in the fine print, and what to do if your 2025 return missed something.
The 2025 tax law was signed July 4, 2025, and much of it applied right away to the 2025 return. Two of its changes touch nearly every household: a larger standard deduction and a larger child tax credit. Both are now permanent, with no expiration date, and rise with inflation each year. “Permanent” means until Congress changes it, which is also what it meant in 2017.
The standard deduction
For 2025 the standard deduction was $15,750 single, $23,625 head of household and $31,500 married filing jointly, more than the amounts the IRS had already announced before the law passed. For 2026 it is $16,100, $24,150 and $32,200. The extra amount for people 65 or older or blind continues: $2,000 single and $1,600 per spouse for 2025, $2,050 and $1,650 for 2026. Personal exemptions, which disappeared in 2018, are gone for good.
| Filing status | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Single | $15,750 | $16,100 |
| Head of household | $23,625 | $24,150 |
| Married filing jointly | $31,500 | $32,200 |
| Extra, 65 or older or blind (single / per spouse) | $2,000 / $1,600 | $2,050 / $1,650 |
Had the 2017 law expired as scheduled, the 2026 standard deduction would have been roughly half these figures, with personal exemptions of about $5,000 per person returning. For most households the net was a tax increase; the 2025 law prevented it.
The seven tax rates, 10% through 37%, are permanent as well; they had been scheduled to revert to the higher pre-2018 rates after 2025, with the 12% bracket becoming 15% and the 22% becoming 25%.
Worked example: what expiration would have cost a family of four
Married, two children under 17, $110,000 of wages, no itemized deductions. 2026 under the law as it stands, against 2026 had the 2017 cuts expired.
| 2025 law in force | Had the cuts expired | |
|---|---|---|
| Standard deduction | $32,200 | about $16,600 |
| Personal exemptions (4) | $0 | about $20,800 |
| Taxable income | $77,800 | about $72,600 |
| Tax before credits | $8,840 (10% and 12% brackets) | about $9,900 (10% and 15% brackets) |
| Child tax credit | $4,400 | $2,000 ($1,000 × 2) |
| Federal tax | $4,440 | about $7,900 |
Rounded; the expired-law column uses the pre-2018 structure indexed forward and is illustrative. The difference, about $3,500, is mostly the child credit: $2,200 per child instead of $1,000.
The child tax credit
The credit is $2,200 per child under 17, with up to $1,700 of it refundable, meaning it can come back as a refund even if you owe no tax. It too now rises with inflation. The credit begins to phase out above $200,000 of income single, $400,000 joint. Dependents who do not qualify for the child credit, such as a 17-year-old, a college student or a parent you support, get the $500 other-dependent credit instead.
The requirement that changed: the child needs a Social Security number, and so does at least one parent on the return. A return where both parents file with an ITIN no longer gets the child credit, even for a child with a Social Security number; the $500 other-dependent credit is still available. The full rules, the divorced-parent rules and the Trump accounts are in The child tax credit and Trump accounts.
Behind the scenes
For the child credit, a preparer checks three things the software won’t flag on its own: the child’s age on December 31 (a child who turned 17 during the year gets the $500 credit, not $2,200); whether the child lived with the taxpayer more than half the year, which decides who claims a child whose parents live apart; and whether the Social Security number was issued before the return’s due date. A number issued late disqualifies the child for that year, which is why a family with a December baby should file an extension rather than file without the number.
Also made permanent or expanded in 2025
Adoption credit. Up to $5,000 of the credit can now come back as a refund even if you owe no tax. Before, families with little tax liability could not use it, and a credit of up to about $17,000 (verify 2026 figure) went unused.
529 plans. Since July 4, 2025, 529 money can pay K–12 costs beyond tuition, including books, curriculum, tutoring, testing fees and educational therapies, and can pay for professional credentials and licensing programs after high school. From 2026 the K–12 limit doubles to $20,000 a year.
Disaster losses. The special rules for personal casualty losses in federally declared disasters were extended, and starting with 2026, state-declared disasters count too.
Telehealth. A high-deductible health plan can cover telehealth before the deductible without costing you the right to contribute to an HSA. This had lapsed at the end of 2024 and is now permanent.
Also permanent: the $750,000 mortgage interest limit, the $5,250 employer student loan assistance exclusion, the 20% deduction for business owners, and the larger estate exemption, now $15 million.
If one of these is missing from your 2025 return
If one of these applied to you and is not on your 2025 return, an amended return on Form 1040-X can usually claim it within three years of the original filing date. The common misses from the first season under the new law: the 2025 standard deduction figures from before the law passed (some early software used $15,000 single and $30,000 joint); the senior deduction for a taxpayer who turned 65 in 2025; the overtime deduction, where the W-2 showed nothing; and the adoption credit for a family that assumed it was useless to them.
The Colorado side
Because Colorado starts from federal taxable income, the bigger standard deduction automatically lowered Colorado tax for 2025 and 2026. The child tax credit does not flow through; Colorado has its own, separate credit for lower-income families with children under 6, covered in How Colorado income tax works. A federal amended return that changes taxable income needs a Colorado amended return to match, and Colorado allows four years to amend rather than the federal three.
What to bring your preparer
- Your 2025 federal and Colorado returns, every page, so the figures used can be checked against the final law
- Social Security cards for children, and for both parents if either files with an ITIN
- Adoption paperwork and expenses, including for an adoption that fell through
- Form 1099-Q and the K–12 expenses a 529 paid, if any
- For a state-declared disaster: the declaration, insurance claim and what was not reimbursed
Questions people ask
Is the standard deduction really permanent now?
It has no expiration date in the law, which is what “permanent” means in tax. Congress can change it in any year, but nothing is scheduled to.
My software used $15,000 for my 2025 single standard deduction. Was that wrong?
Yes, if the return was filed with that figure; the law raised it to $15,750 after the IRS had published $15,000. The difference is $750 of deduction, worth $90 to $180 of federal tax. Most software updated before filing season, but early filers should look.
My child has an ITIN. Do I get anything?
The $500 credit for other dependents, if the child otherwise qualifies as your dependent. Not the $2,200 credit, and not the refundable part.
How far back can I amend?
Federally, three years from the date the original return was filed, or two years from when the tax was paid, whichever is later. A 2025 return filed in April 2026 can be amended until April 2029. Colorado allows four years.
“Permanent” means until Congress changes it
The 2017 numbers were also supposed to last. Plan on these figures for the next few years, and read the updates page each January.