topic Senior Deduction phase out on form 1-A. in After you file

Senior Deduction phase out on form 1-A.

terriheid — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 21:04:17 GMT

MFJ and both over 65 with income of $180k and subject to the phase out. However Turbo Tax desk top version is incorrectly calculating the phase out amount by doubling the phase out amount. I've seen where others have reported the issue but I don't see confirmation by Intuit that it's a known issue or any estimate of when to expect correction.

Re: Senior Deduction phase out on form 1-A.

rjs — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 21:49:15 GMT

The calculation in TurboTax is correct. The phaseout applies separately to each spouse on a joint return. Look at Part V of Schedule 1-A. TurboTax is following the IRS instructions for Schedule 1-A.

Re: Senior Deduction phase out on form 1-A.

VolvoGirl — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 22:06:16 GMT

It is phased out for EACH spouse. Fill out Sch 1-A yourself and see. It's pretty easy. Then why would they even have 2 lines 36a and 36b for spouse on Schedule 1-A? And the max for Joint is 250,000 and not double for Single (350,000).

IRS Schedule 1-A
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040s1a.pdf

See IRS instructions for 1040 line 110
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040gi.pdf

Re: Senior Deduction phase out on form 1-A.

VolvoGirl — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 18:11:20 GMT

@terriheid I entered 180,000 into my spreadsheet for you. Is t his what you got?

Re: Senior Deduction phase out on form 1-A.

terriheid — Sun, 15 Feb 2026 21:42:35 GMT

Appreciate replies but still not understanding. Calc is based off joint gross income and the 150k max is based off joint income and the 6% calc is based on total joint but then that result is applied on each taxpayer which seems to double penalize, what am I missing?

Re: Senior Deduction phase out on form 1-A.

rjs — Sun, 15 Feb 2026 21:53:33 GMT

The only thing you're missing is that it's not a penalty. That's the way the law requires the calculation to be done. The phaseout applies separately to each spouse. Just look at Schedule 1-A and follow the steps in Part V.

Re: Senior Deduction phase out on form 1-A.

Ruth7680 — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 21:23:42 GMT

I saw the same problem on our married filing jointly taxes. It's not a Turbo Tax problem, it's an error on the IRS form by whoever designed the form, part V. I looked up the 1-A form online at IRS.gov to see if they caught the error in the form and had an updated form. The form was the same. It is an error, or a deliberate issue by the IRS/government which essentially takes money away from married filing jointly couples. It uses the combined income threshold to calculate the 6% reduction per $1,000 of income over the threshold of $150,000. But then it applies the same reduction separately to each married spouse. That increases the reduction to 12% per $1,000 of COMBINED income over $150,000. They should have applied the reduction amount from COMBINED INCOME to the COMBINED $12,000 deduction starting point. To compare, if you take half of the combined income, calculate the 6% reduction, then apply it to the $6000 deduction for only one spouse (as though you were filing separately) , you would see that their reduction is half of the amount of the 6% reduction calculation of the amount over $150,000, but on the married filing jointly, the 6% is doubled by applying it twice, separately to each spouse. If you compare the two scenarios, by applying the reductions separately to each spouse, the filing separately is actually 25% of the combined reduction to married couples filing jointly. I hope that makes sense the way I explained it. It's definitely a marriage penalty that no one is talking about and I couldn't find it anywhere on any online searches. If you think about how much each couple could be loosing, then multiply it by the number of seniors it would affect across the United States, that is a lot of money taken away from seniors. Is it intentional or someone's mistake in the design and application of he OBBB? Who knows, but it is wrong!

Re: Senior Deduction phase out on form 1-A. for married filing jointly IRS FORM HAS AN ERROR

Ruth7680 — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 21:25:21 GMT

Re: Senior Deduction phase out on form 1-A.

rjs — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 22:36:19 GMT

@Ruth7680

It's not an error in the form. The new tax law is very clear that this is how the phaseout has to be calculated. The law specifically says that the reduction applies to the $6,000 for each taxpayer.

The IRS has to follow the law as it is written. If you think the law should be different, you should write to your congressional representative.

Re: Senior Deduction phase out on form 1-A.

Ruth7680 — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 17:47:16 GMT

It’s still a flaw in the way it is set up. Sure, the deduction applies to each spouse, I am not saying that it shouldn’t. However, there is a flaw in the calculation of the reduction. The reduction is calculated from the combined income and the deduction should be applied towards the combined $12,000 benefit, not the same deduction (in full) applied separately to each spouse.

It is either intentional that the bill was specifically written to penalize married filing jointly couples, or it was unintentional. If it was unintentional, it could be because when writing the bill, they didn’t realize the inaccurate application of the reduction or it was the misinterpretation of the law in the design of the form. Either way, it increases the reduction to 12% of income over the $150,000 threshold for married couples.

No financial publication even mentions THIS marriage penalty. They do mention the marriage penalty because of the upper income limits for married filing jointly is not double the upper income limit of the filing separate. But again, no where have I found any information as to what I am describing. I am not sure you are understanding what I have said either. If you do your own calculations comparing the calculations of filing single with half the income vs the married filing jointly with the full combined income, the way it calculates penalizes and takes twice as much money away from married filing jointly couple.

Re: Senior Deduction phase out on form 1-A.

VolvoGirl — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 17:55:20 GMT

See IRS instructions for 1040 Schedule 1-A on page 110. Says.... The Maximum amount is 6,000 per person.
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040gi.pdf

Re: Senior Deduction phase out on form 1-A.

Ruth7680 — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 18:40:40 GMT

It’s still a flaw in the way the IRS form is set up. Sure, a deduction applies to each spouse, I am not saying that it shouldn’t. However, there is a flaw in applying the full reduction to each spouse. The reduction is calculated from the combined income and the deduction should be applied towards the combined $12,000 benefit, not the same deduction (in full) applied separately to each spouse. Talking about this is words may not make sense to what I am saying. Do the math yourself. Take 50% of the combined income and calculate the reduction as though you were filing separately. Then compare to the calculations of the full combined income and married filing jointly (both over 65 years old). The problem will jump out to you. It takes more money away from the married filing jointly than it should.

Re: Senior Deduction phase out on form 1-A.

VolvoGirl — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 18:46:02 GMT

We understand what you are saying. There have been many complaints about it. It is effectively 12%. Posting here doesn’t change anything or go anywhere. You would need to tell your congressman.