Married? Here Is What Doubles and What Does Not

The four new deductions treat couples four different ways. This trips up almost everyone.

You would expect every cap to simply double for a married couple. The law did not do that. Each deduction has its own marriage math, so here they are one by one.

Tips: the cap does not double

The tips deduction is capped at $25,000 per return. Not per person. A married couple where both work for tips shares one $25,000 cap between them. Two servers who each earn $20,000 in tips can deduct $25,000 total, not $40,000. The phase out starts at $300,000 of joint income.

Overtime: the cap does double

The overtime deduction is $12,500 for a single filer and $25,000 for a couple filing jointly. If you both work heavy overtime, you get the full doubled cap. The phase out starts at $300,000 joint.

Car loan interest: same cap, higher phase out

The car loan deduction stays at $10,000 of interest per return whether you are single or married. What changes is the income limit. Singles start losing the deduction above $100,000, couples above $200,000. If you own two qualifying cars, the interest from both counts toward the same $10,000.

Senior deduction: truly per person

This one is the cleanest. Each spouse who is 65 or older gets $6,000. Both 65, that is $12,000. One of you is 63, only the older spouse's $6,000 applies. The phase out begins at $150,000 for couples.

The filing separately trap

Married filing separately kills the tips and overtime deductions completely. Neither spouse can claim them at all. If one of you earns tips or overtime and you have been filing separately for student loan or other reasons, run the numbers both ways this year, because separate filing now has a real price.

Run your household's numbers

Every calculator on this site has a married filing jointly option with the right caps and phase outs built in. Start with the one that fits your biggest income source: tips, overtime, car loan, or senior.