MOVE · SIDE-BY-SIDE COMPARISON · NOTE 15

The 2026 filing-status deduction gap

IRS-published 2026 standard deductions are translated into taxable-income differences before any city comparison is attempted.

INPUT AND EVIDENCE LEDGER

Put the two cases on the same footing.

FieldValueOrigin
Single / married filing separately$16,100IRS 2026 standard deduction
Head of household$24,150IRS 2026 standard deduction
Married filing jointly$32,200IRS 2026 standard deduction
Income example$100,000 before deductionsControlled comparison input

DECISION READING

Read the gap, not just the winner.

MOVE cannot produce one credible tax result from salary and city alone. Filing status changes the taxable base before marginal brackets are applied, so it must remain a visible user input.

REPRODUCIBLE WORK

The comparison ledger.

CheckFormula or ruleResult
Single taxable base$100,000 − $16,100$83,900
Head-of-household base$100,000 − $24,150$75,850
Joint base$100,000 − $32,200$67,800
Largest base gap$83,900 − $67,800$16,100 before brackets, credits, and other deductions

SOURCE SNAPSHOT

Official context and the limited role it supports.

SENSITIVITY

Conditions that can reverse the gap.

  • Itemized deductions can replace the standard deduction.
  • Credits and household-specific deductions are separate from this calculation.
  • A joint return combines income, so the $100K example is not a household forecast.

HUMAN ACCOUNTABILITY + AI USE RECORD

The owner is accountable; the technical checks were AI-assisted.

The TOOOLBOX site owner authorized the publication scope and remains the correction contact. AI assistance was used for drafting, implementation, arithmetic recomputation, and source-link checks. This record does not claim line-by-line human fact-checking or licensed professional review.

Record ID
TB-MOVE-15-20260902
Owner role
TOOOLBOX site owner and developer
Technical check date
2026-09-02
Human fact-check
No separate human fact-check recorded
AI use
Drafting, code, arithmetic, and link checks
Correction channel
Public contact page
  1. Matched all three deduction values to the IRS release.
  2. Recomputed the taxable bases from the declared $100K example.
  3. Checked that deductions are not described as tax savings dollar-for-dollar.

BOUNDARIES

Claims this comparison cannot support.

  • This is federal taxable-income setup, not final tax liability.
  • State and local rules are excluded.
  • Tax law can change; the page is tied to tax year 2026.

MORE MOVE DECISION NOTES

Test the result yourself.

This note preserves a dated calculation. Change the inputs in the live workspace, or compare another evidence pattern below. Live source availability and results can differ from the dated example.