What is the limit on deducting state and local taxes?

What the limit covers

• If you itemize, state and local real property taxes, personal property taxes, and income taxes (or sales taxes, if you choose them instead) count toward one overall limit.
• The 2025 law raised that limit and set it by year in the statute. A married person filing separately gets half.

How income changes it

• For tax years beginning before 2030, the limit is reduced by 30 percent of your modified adjusted gross income above a threshold amount, but it never drops below a floor set in the statute.

What it turns on

• whether you itemize deductions
• the state and local taxes you actually paid in the year
• your modified adjusted gross income
• your filing status

What would make it not apply

• you take the standard deduction instead of itemizing
• your state and local taxes are already under the limit, so it does not bind

The law, quoted

Sources: IRC §164 · IRC §63. Each passage below is copied from the document VALID fetched, with the start of its SHA-256 fingerprint.

(i) In general Except as provided in clause (iii), in the case of any taxable year beginning before January 1, 2030, the applicable limitation amount shall be reduced by 30 percent of the excess (if any) of the taxpayer's modified adjusted gross income over the threshold amount (half the threshold amount in the case of a married individual filing a separate return).

IRC §164 — (i) In general · law in effect September 29, 2026 · fingerprint 1f0f27b2a639

(iv) Modified adjusted gross income For purposes of this paragraph, the term "modified adjusted gross income" means adjusted gross income increased by any amount excluded from gross income under section 911, 931, or 933.

IRC §164 — (iv) Modified adjusted gross income · law in effect September 29, 2026 · fingerprint 1f0f27b2a639