2026 Tax Forms: What Changed on Each IRS Draft, Form by Form
The IRS drafts for 2026 returns filed in 2027, in one table: Form 1040, Schedules 1-A, 3-A, A, C and E, credits, 1099s and W-2, with what changed on each.
The IRS posts early-release drafts of each year’s forms from late summer onward, and they are the first official look at what a return will ask. For tax year 2026, the year whose returns are filed in early 2027, the drafts show how far the 2025 law has reached into ordinary returns. This page collects the drafts finbarrow has read line by line, compared with the 2025 versions. We update it as final forms replace the drafts.
Every form, in one table
| Form | What changed for 2026 | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Form 1040 | New line 12f for charity without itemizing; lines 13a and 13b swapped; new lines 24a–c and 32a–c; a work-authorization question | Form 1040 2026 draft |
| Form 1040-X | Revision of December 2026: new lines 2b, 11b and 17b, renumbered dependents and a work-authorization question; paper amended returns still need a complete Form 1040 attached, a rule in place since the December 2025 revision | Form 1040-X 2026 draft |
| Schedule 1 | Line 11 educator expenses ($350) now open to daycare and preschool teachers under Public Law 119-111 | Educator deduction 2026 |
| Schedule 1 (full form) | Only line 14 is reworded, for intelligence community movers; the educator, HSA and student loan figures behind it are inflation-adjusted | Schedule 1 for 2026 |
| Schedule 2 | Nearly every Part II line renumbered (HSA additional taxes now 13c and 13d) | Schedule 2 for 2026 |
| Schedule 1-A | Per-employer tables for tips and overtime, the car loan interest deduction with two new questions per vehicle, total to Form 1040 line 13a | Schedule 1-A 2026 draft |
| Schedule 3-A | New form for a proposed rule treating parts of four refundable credits as a federal public benefit | Schedule 3-A |
| Schedule A | SALT cap of $40,400, mortgage insurance premiums back on line 8d, a 0.5% floor on charitable deductions, gambling losses at 90% | Schedule A 2026 draft |
| Schedule C | Interest split into lines 16a, 16b (vehicle loan) and 16c; 72.5 cents a mile to June 30 and 76 cents after; 1099 threshold $2,000 | Schedule C 2026 |
| Form 8829 | Same lines as 2025; mortgage insurance premiums enter lines 10 and 16 and the Line 11 Worksheet uses the $40,400 SALT cap | Form 8829 for 2026 |
| Schedule SE | Optional methods in Part II at $7,560 for 2026 | Schedule SE optional methods |
| Schedule E | Interest split into lines 13a (vehicle loan) and 13b; the same two mileage rates for rental driving; three pages | Schedule E 2026 |
| Schedule H | Social Security and Medicare at $3,000 of cash wages to a household employee ($3,100 for 2027) | Nanny tax 2026 and 2027 |
| Schedule 8812 | Child tax credit of $2,200 per child for 2026 | Child tax credit 2026 and 2027 |
| Form 2441 | Credit rate up to 50%, phasing down to 20%; dependent care FSA limit of $7,500 | Form 2441 in 2026 |
| Form 8863 | A work-valid SSN issued by the due date is required for both education credits | Form 8863 2026 |
| Form 8839 | Refundable part up to $5,120 per child, a new line 18b for the carryforward to 2027, and Schedule 3-A required with the refundable credit; 2025 carryforwards recomputed by the IRS | Adoption credit carryforward refunds |
| Form 8815 | Savings bond interest exclusion phases out from $101,800 to $116,800 single and $152,650 to $182,650 joint | Form 8815 for 2026 |
| Form 5329 | Line 2 exception numbers run 01 to 24; number 24 is new for qualified long-term care distributions | Form 5329 exception numbers |
| Form 8853 | Long-term care per diem limit of $430 a day ($445 for 2027) for benefits reported on Form 1099-LTC | Form 1099-LTC and Form 8853 |
| Form 3903 | Moving expenses deductible for members of the intelligence community from 2026, as well as the Armed Forces; two mileage rates in 2026 | Form 3903 for 2026 |
| Form 6251 | AMT exemption phase-out starts at $500,000 ($1,000,000 joint) at 50 cents per dollar | Form 6251 2026 draft |
| Form 8889 | Individual bronze and catastrophic plans count as HSA-eligible plans | Bronze plan HSA |
| Form 8962 | The 400% poverty-line cliff applies, the cap on repaying excess advance credit is gone, and coverage bought through an income-based special enrollment period doesn’t qualify unless tied to a life event | Form 8962 line 5; no repayment cap |
| Form 1095-A | Column B (the benchmark silver plan) still has to be checked, and a zero, blank or wrong figure now costs more with no repayment cap | Form 1095-A column B |
| Form 8936 | EV credits only for vehicles acquired by September 30, 2025; 2026 battery tests | Form 8936 for 2026 |
| Form 5695 | Down to four lines: only carryforwards of the residential clean energy credit | Form 5695 2026 |
| Form 2555 | Draft changes for 2026, and the official 2027 exclusion of $137,300 | Foreign earned income exclusion |
| Form 4547 | The election to open a child’s Trump account and request the $1,000 pilot deposit | Form 4547 |
| Trump Accounts | Automatic accounts opened on October 1, 2026; claiming one is separate from the $1,000 pilot election | Claiming a Trump Account |
| Form W-2 | New box 12 codes TA, TP and TT for Trump account contributions, tips and overtime | W-2 box 12 codes |
| Form 1099-NEC | Threshold $2,000 for 2026 payments; redesigned boxes | Form 1099-NEC 2026 |
| Form 1098-VLI | New lender statement for car loan interest | Form 1098-VLI |
| Form 1098 | Box 5 mortgage insurance premiums are deductible again on Schedule A line 8d, phased out between $100,000 and $109,000 of AGI | Form 1098 box 5 in 2026 |
| Form 1099-DA | First year with cost basis, for assets bought in a custodial account after 2025 | Form 1099-DA 2026 |
| Form 1099-R | Box 7 becomes 7a (codes) and 7b (IRA/SEP/SIMPLE), new boxes 7c (Trump account) and 7d (earnings on excess contributions), box 8 split into 8a and 8b; code Y for QCDs stays optional | Form 1099-R for 2026 |
| Form 1099-Q | 529 withdrawals for K-12 expenses capped at $20,000 from 2026, with credential programs and the 529-to-ABLE rollover made permanent; the form still does not show the taxable part | Form 1099-Q for 2026 |
The four themes behind the changes
New deductions, mostly below the line
Most of the new tax breaks from the 2025 law are deductions taken after adjusted gross income, not adjustments to it. Tips, overtime, car loan interest and the enhanced senior deduction all go through Schedule 1-A to Form 1040 line 13a, which is why lines 13a and 13b changed places. People who take the standard deduction can also claim up to $1,000 of cash gifts to charity ($2,000 on a joint return) on the new line 12f, while itemizers lose the first 0.5% of AGI in charitable deductions; see the 2026 charitable deduction guide.
The new deductions create a split that did not exist before: a business owner or landlord who drives a financed car for work deducts the business share of the interest on Schedule C or Schedule E and may claim the personal share on Schedule 1-A, but never the same dollars twice.
Credits with tighter conditions
Several credits now depend on identification or timing. The education credits require a Social Security number valid for work. A proposed rule, carried on the new Schedule 3-A, would deny the refundable parts of four credits to some non-citizens. The electric vehicle credits apply only to vehicles acquired by September 30, 2025, and the home energy credits ended for 2026 expenditures, leaving Form 5695 for carryforwards only. Some credits grew, notably the child and dependent care credit, now up to 50% of qualifying expenses at lower incomes. The earned income credit keeps its usual inflation adjustment; the official 2026 and 2027 tables are in our EITC guide. Divorced and separated parents should also check what Form 8332 moves to the noncustodial parent, and what it does not.
Information returns at higher thresholds
The threshold for nonemployee compensation on Form 1099-NEC, and for several other Forms 1099, rises from $600 to $2,000 for payments made in 2026 and is indexed from 2027. Schedules C and E ask whether you made payments that require Forms 1099, so the answer changes for many small businesses and landlords.
New forms and codes
Lenders send Form 1098-VLI for car loan interest. Employers use new W-2 box 12 codes for tips (TP), overtime (TT) and Trump account contributions (TA). Brokers report cost basis on Form 1099-DA for the first time. Each of these feeds a line elsewhere on the return.
Changes that are not on any form
Some 2026 changes appear only in instructions or other IRS guidance. Two examples covered on this site:
- The mid-year mileage rate. The business standard mileage rate is 72.5 cents per mile through June 30, 2026, under Notice 2026-10, and 76 cents from July 1, under Announcement 2026-11. Medical driving moved from 20.5 to 23.5 cents.
- Forgiven mortgage debt. The exclusion for canceled debt on a main home expired after 2025, so a short sale or foreclosure in 2026 can create taxable income unless the discharge falls under an arrangement entered into and evidenced in writing before 2026; see forgiven mortgage debt in 2026.
Key dates for 2026 returns
| Date | What is due |
|---|---|
| January 15, 2027 | Fourth estimated tax payment for 2026 |
| February 1, 2027 | Forms W-2 and 1099-NEC to workers and to the SSA or IRS (January 31 falls on a Sunday) |
| April 15, 2027 | 2026 returns, payment of tax owed, and 2026 contributions to IRAs and HSAs |
| October 15, 2027 | Returns on extension with Form 4868, which moves the filing date but not the payment date; for 2026 education credits on an extended return, a work-valid SSN must be issued before this date |
How we read the drafts
Each guide compares the 2026 draft with the final 2025 form, quotes the draft instructions where they explain a change, and checks dollar figures against the statute or the IRS revenue procedure. Drafts are not final: the IRS says it posts a new draft if something significant changes, and instructions usually change again before release. When a final form differs from a draft, we update the guide and the date at the top. Figures for 2027, which depend on the inflation adjustments the IRS publishes each fall, are tracked separately in our IRS 2027 inflation adjustments tracker.
Sources
- Internal Revenue Service — Draft Tax Forms, the early-release drafts for 2026 forms and instructions cited in each linked guide
- Internal Revenue Service — Internal Revenue Bulletin 2026-29, Announcement 2026-11 (standard mileage rates from July 1, 2026)
- Public Law 119-21 (July 4, 2025), the provisions summarized in each linked guide
- Internal Revenue Service — Rev. Proc. 2026-35, 2027 inflation-adjusted amounts (foreign earned income exclusion, earned income credit)
Quick answers
Are the 2026 tax forms final yet?
Not all of them. As of early November 2026, the IRS has posted early-release drafts of most individual forms for 2026 returns, including Form 1040, its schedules and the main credit forms. Drafts can still change before the IRS posts final versions, usually in December and January. Each guide linked from this page cites the draft date it was checked against.
What is the biggest change on the 2026 Form 1040?
The return is reorganized around the 2025 tax law. Line 12f is new for the charitable deduction available to people who take the standard deduction, lines 13a and 13b swap so that Schedule 1-A deductions come first, and there is a new question asking whether you, and your spouse on a joint return, were U.S. citizens or authorized to work during the year; the instructions explaining what it feeds into were not yet posted when we read the draft.
Which 2026 forms deal with no tax on tips, overtime and car loan interest?
Schedule 1-A collects those deductions and the enhanced senior deduction, and its total goes to Form 1040 line 13a. Employers report tips and overtime on Form W-2 box 12 under codes TP and TT, and lenders report car loan interest on the new Form 1098-VLI. Business owners split vehicle loan interest between Schedule C line 16b or Schedule E line 13a and Schedule 1-A.
When are 2026 Forms W-2 and 1099-NEC due?
February 1, 2027, because January 31, 2027, falls on a Sunday. For 2026 payments, a Form 1099-NEC is generally required only for nonemployee compensation of $2,000 or more, up from $600.
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