New on your tax return
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WHAT CHANGED?
Your 2025 federal return carries a deduction that has never appeared on a tax return before. If you were 65 or older on or before December 31, 2025, the IRS allows an extra $6,000 deduction. If you and your spouse both qualify, that is $12,000.
This is not a tweak to an old rule. It is a separate deduction created for tax years 2025 through 2028, and this is the first return it lands on. For anyone who asked for more time back in April, October 15 is the last on-time day to send that return in.
WHO IS AFFECTED?
You, if you turned 65 on or before the last day of 2025 and file a 2025 federal return, whether you take the standard deduction or itemize.
You, if you requested an extension in April. October 15, 2026 is the final on-time filing date for your 2025 return.
Less so if your income is high. The deduction begins shrinking once modified adjusted gross income passes $75,000, or $150,000 on a joint return.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
Here is the part I most want you to get right, because this one gets described wrong constantly. It is not a repeal of tax on Social Security. Your benefits are taxed under the same rules as before. What changed is that more of your income gets subtracted before the tax is figured, and for a lot of people living on Social Security and a modest pension, that is enough to erase the bill entirely. A real result, and worth having. Just not the same thing as an exemption, so treat anyone promising you tax-free benefits with a long, cool stare.
Two details decide whether the money actually reaches you.
It stacks. The $6,000 sits on top of the extra standard deduction people 65 and older already get. You do not trade one for the other. And the IRS says it is available whether you claim the standard deduction or itemize, which is unusual and easy to miss.
It has conditions. Each person claiming it needs a Social Security number on the return, and a married person has to file jointly. File separately and it disappears.
If you miss October 15 owing money, the late-filing penalty runs 5 percent of the unpaid tax per month, up to 25 percent, with a minimum of $525 once a return is more than 60 days late, or the full tax owed if that is smaller. If a refund is coming to you instead, there is no penalty. The money simply sits at the Treasury until you ask for it.
WHAT TO DO
Pull up your 2025 return, or the draft your preparer sent over, and look for that extra deduction before October 15. If the return has not gone in yet, make sure the deduction is on it, and if your adjusted gross income was $89,000 or less, IRS Free File will prepare and file it for free. If you already filed and the line is missing, you are not out of luck. An amended return on Form 1040-X can be filed within three years of the original, and it can go in electronically.
SOURCE: the IRS eligibility page for the new deduction for people 65 and older
Written by Ellen Marsh
Retirement Money Brief is educational information only — not financial, tax, or legal advice. We will never ask you for an account number, Social Security number, password, or payment.