Standard Deduction Worksheet for Dependents

What is the Standard Deduction Worksheet for Dependents?

The Standard Deduction Worksheet for Dependents is a worksheet of the Internal Revenue Service. It is printed in the Instructions for Form 1040 and Form 1040-SR and serves line 12e of those returns. IRS Publication 501 describes the standard deduction as "a dollar amount that reduces your taxable income".

The worksheet says who it is for: "Use this worksheet only if someone can claim you, or your spouse if filing jointly, as a dependent."

The blank on this page is the worksheet from the 2025 instructions.

What does the worksheet ask?

The worksheet has four numbered lines.

1. Line 1 has check boxes for the filer and for the spouse: born before a date printed on the worksheet, and blind. The total number of boxes checked is entered.
2. Line 2 asks whether the filer's earned income is more than an amount printed on the line. If yes, a printed amount is added to the earned income and the total is entered; if no, a printed amount is entered. A footnote says that earned income "includes wages, salaries, tips, professional fees, and other compensation received for personal services you performed" and that it "also includes any taxable scholarship or fellowship grant"; it also names the lines of the return from which earned income is generally taken.
3. Line 3 is the amount printed for the filing status: single or married filing separately, married filing jointly, or head of household.
4. Line 4 is the standard deduction. On line 4a the filer enters the smaller of line 2 or line 3 and follows the stop instruction printed on that line. If proceeding to line 4b, the filer multiplies the number on line 1 by the printed amount, which is higher for a filer who is single or head of household. Line 4c adds lines 4a and 4b, and the total is entered on line 12e.

What is done with the worksheet?

The worksheet is marked "Keep for Your Records". Its result is entered on line 12e of Form 1040 or Form 1040-SR.

The instructions for line 12e list exceptions. Two of them make the standard deduction zero: for a filer who checked the box on line 12b of the return (the filing status is married filing separately and the spouse itemizes deductions) and for a filer who checked the box on line 12c (the box for a dual-status alien). A dual-status alien does not check line 12c when filing jointly with a spouse who was a U.S. citizen or resident alien at the end of the tax year and both spouses agree to be taxed on their combined worldwide income.

Below the worksheet the blank carries a separate chart, the Standard Deduction Chart for people born before the printed date or blind. The chart is not for dependents; it says: "Don't use this chart if someone can claim you, or your spouse if filing jointly, as a dependent. Instead, use the worksheet above."

The dollar amounts and the birth date printed on the worksheet belong to the 2025 tax year. Publication 501 says: "Generally, the standard deduction amounts are adjusted each year for inflation."

The worksheet is part of the Instructions for Form 1040 and Form 1040-SR on irs.gov.