Schedule 2 for 2026: Every Line That Moved From 2025
The 2026 draft Schedule 2 renumbers nearly every Part II line. A 2025-to-2026 map from both forms, where each total lands on Form 1040, and a worked example.
Schedule 2 is a form many filers never look at closely, even when they owe something on it. It collects taxes that sit outside the regular income-tax calculation: the premium tax credit you have to give back, self-employment tax, the penalty on an early IRA withdrawal, the surtaxes on high earners. From the 2021 form through the 2025 form, the Part II line numbers from 4 to 21 barely moved, so software help pages, blog posts and worksheets could cite them by number year after year. The 2026 draft breaks that habit. If you keep a worksheet, a template or a checklist that says “Schedule 2, line 8,” it needs a second look.
I compared the early release draft of the 2026 form, stamped “Created 4/27/26,” with the final 2025 form, stamped “Created 5/8/25.” What follows comes from reading the printed text of both. Drafts are not final, and the IRS says so on the cover sheet, so treat every line number below as provisional until the final 2026 form is posted. For the broader picture of what else changed, see our overview of what changed on each 2026 IRS draft.
What stayed put: Part I
Part I, “Tax,” is the same on both years. Line 1 is “Additions to tax,” with sublines 1a through 1f and 1y, and line 1z reads “Add lines 1a through 1y.” Line 2 is “Alternative minimum tax. Attach Form 6251.” Line 3 adds lines 1z and 2 and sends the result to “Form 1040, 1040-SR, or 1040-NR, line 17.”
The first of those sublines can carry a much larger number in 2026. Line 1a is “Excess advance premium tax credit repayment. Attach Form 8962” in both years. What changes is the number that arrives there. On the 2025 return, repayment was limited for households under 400 percent of the poverty line: the 2025 Form 8962 entered a “Repayment limitation” on line 28 and sent the smaller of line 27 or line 28 to Schedule 2 from line 29. The 2026 draft of Form 8962, stamped “Created 4/21/26,” sends line 27 straight to Schedule 2, line 1a, and marks lines 28 and 29 “Reserved for future use.” That change is covered in our guide to Form 8962 for 2026 and the end of the repayment cap. The Schedule 2 line itself looks identical, so the change is easy to miss if you only compare labels.
The new structure of Part II
The 2025 Part II was one numbered run from line 4 to line 21, with a long “Other additional taxes” block at line 17 in the middle and a few stray items, such as the recapture of net EPE on line 19 and the Section 965 installment on line 20, tacked on after it. The 2026 draft sorts the same material into three pieces:
- Section A, “Additional Income Taxes” (lines 4 through 15): self-employment tax, the IRA tax, net investment income tax, the installment-sale interest lines, the low-income housing recapture, the recapture of net EPE, the Additional Medicare Tax on self-employment income, the Section 965 installment, and the list of other income-type taxes on line 13. Line 15 is “Add lines 4 through 11 and line 14.”
- Section B, “Additional Employment and Other Taxes” (lines 16 through 20): taxes on unreported tips and uncollected wage taxes, household employment taxes, the Additional Medicare Tax on wages and RRTA compensation, uncollected tax on tips or group-term life insurance from Form W-2, the tax on excess contributions or accumulations in IRAs and other tax-favored accounts, and the Form 8621 interest lines. Line 20 is “Add lines 16c, 17d, 18, and 19c.”
- Section C, “Total Additional Taxes” (line 21): “Add lines 15 and 20. These are your total additional taxes.”
The 2025 to 2026 line map
This table pairs each 2025 line with its 2026 draft location, using the printed labels on both forms. Where the label changed, I quote the new wording.
| 2025 line | 2025 label (short) | 2026 draft line |
|---|---|---|
| 1a–1z, 2, 3 | Part I, unchanged | 1a–1z, 2, 3 |
| 4 | Self-employment tax | 4 |
| 5 | Social security and Medicare tax on unreported tip income (Form 4137) | 16a |
| 6 | Uncollected social security and Medicare tax on wages (Form 8919) | 16b |
| 7 | Total additional social security and Medicare tax | 16c |
| 8 | Additional tax on IRAs or other tax-favored accounts (Form 5329) | 5; excess-contribution and excess-accumulation taxes move to new line 18 |
| 9 | Household employment taxes (Schedule H) | 17a |
| 10 | ”Reserved for future use” | No numbered line |
| 11 | ”Additional Medicare Tax. Attach Form 8959” | 11, relabeled “Additional Medicare Tax on self-employment income”; and new 17b |
| 12 | Net investment income tax (Form 8960) | 6 |
| 13 | Uncollected social security and Medicare or RRTA tax on tips or group-term life insurance, W-2 box 12 | 17c |
| 14 | Interest on tax due on installment income from certain residential lots and timeshares | 7 |
| 15 | Interest on deferred tax on gain from certain installment sales over $150,000 | 8 |
| 16 | Recapture of low-income housing credit (Form 8611) | 9 |
| 17a–17o | Other additional taxes | 13a–13o |
| 17p, 17q | Form 8621 interest (line 16f; line 24) | 19a, 19b |
| 17z | Any other taxes | 13z |
| 18 | Total additional taxes (17a through 17z) | 14, “Total additional income taxes. Add lines 13a through 13z” |
| 19 | Recapture of net EPE from Form 4255, line 1d, column (l) | 10 |
| 20 | Section 965 net tax liability installment from Form 965-A | 12 |
| 21 | Total other taxes, to Form 1040 line 23 | 21, same destination, different arithmetic |
Five lines on the 2026 draft are new subtotals or new entries. Line 15 and line 20 are the section subtotals, line 17d (“Total other employment taxes”) adds lines 17a through 17c, and line 19c adds the two Form 8621 interest lines. Line 18, “Additional tax on excess contributions or accumulations in IRAs or other tax-favored accounts. Attach Form 5329,” is a separate entry that did not exist on the 2025 schedule; the 2025 form had only the single Form 5329 line, line 8. The 2026 draft Form 5329, stamped “Created 7/31/26,” shows how the old line splits. Part I (the 10 percent tax on early distributions), Part II (distributions from education and ABLE accounts) and Part XI (earnings on excess contributions distributed from Trump accounts) say “Include this amount on Schedule 2 (Form 1040), line 5.” Parts III through VIII and Part X, the 6 percent taxes on excess contributions to traditional and Roth IRAs, Coverdell ESAs, Archer MSAs, HSAs, ABLE accounts and Trump accounts, point to line 18, and so does Part IX, the tax on excess accumulation in retirement plans when a required minimum distribution is missed. Someone with both an early withdrawal and an excess contribution will therefore have entries on both lines. Our Form 5329 guide covers the exception numbers that decide whether the early-withdrawal tax applies at all.
Two relabelings deserve a mention. The 2025 line 11 was just “Additional Medicare Tax,” and the 2026 draft splits it: line 11 is now “Additional Medicare Tax on self-employment income. Attach Form 8959,” and line 17b is “Additional Medicare tax on Medicare wages and RRTA compensation. Attach Form 8959.” Both point to the same Form 8959. And the HSA lines keep their wording but move: “Additional tax on HSA distributions. Attach Form 8889” goes from 17c to 13c, and “Additional tax on an HSA because you didn’t remain an eligible individual” from 17d to 13d. If you are tracing those through Form 8889, our Form 8889 line-by-line guide walks through where the figures come from.
How the totals reach Form 1040
Two numbers leave Schedule 2, and they land in different places. Line 3, the Part I total, goes to “Form 1040, 1040-SR, or 1040-NR, line 17.” Line 21, the Part II total, goes to “Form 1040 or 1040-SR, line 23; or Form 1040-NR, line 23b.” That structure is unchanged from 2025, and the 2026 draft Form 1040, stamped “Created 8/19/26,” matches it: its line 17 is “Amount from Schedule 2, line 3,” and its line 23 is “Additional taxes, including self-employment tax, from Schedule 2, line 21.” It also explains something that trips people up: the excess premium tax credit repayment on line 1a is not part of the Part II total. It travels with the Part I tax at line 17, while the early-withdrawal tax lands in line 23. For how line 17 and line 23 fit into the main form, see our guide to the Form 1040 2026 draft.
One oddity is worth flagging. On the 2026 draft, line 12, the Section 965 installment from Form 965-A, is not named in the instruction on line 15 (“Add lines 4 through 11 and line 14”) or in the line 20 and line 21 totals as printed. The 2025 form had the same pattern: line 21 said “Add lines 4, 7 through 16, 18, and 19,” which also left out the Section 965 installment on line 20, and the 2021 through 2024 forms likewise never listed line 20 in their line 21 totals. So this is a long-standing feature of the form rather than a new gap. The 2025 Form 1040 instructions do not mention Form 965-A at all, so how that installment is meant to reach the return is a question for the final 2026 instructions.
A worked example
Take a single filer who tells the Marketplace she expects $36,000 of income for 2026, then finishes the year with $60,000 of household income, including $8,000 she withdrew from a traditional IRA before age 59½ with no exception. These figures reuse the premium assumptions from our Form 8962 guide: an illustrative $9,600 benchmark premium and the applicable figures from Table 2 of the 2026 draft Form 8962 instructions, 0.0770 at $36,000 (230 percent of the $15,650 poverty line for one person) and 0.0996 at $60,000 (383 percent). I ran the arithmetic in Python.
- Advance credit paid during the year. $9,600 minus 0.0770 × $36,000 ($2,772) is $6,828.
- Credit she actually qualifies for. $9,600 minus 0.0996 × $60,000 ($5,976) is $3,624.
- Excess advance payment. $6,828 minus $3,624 is $3,204. This is Form 8962, line 27, and it goes to Schedule 2, line 1a. With no cap, the entire $3,204 is due. Under the 2025 rules, Table 5 of the Form 8962 instructions would have capped a single filer from 300 to under 400 percent of the poverty line at $1,625, so the 2026 rule costs her $1,579 more.
- Part I. Line 1z is $3,204, line 2 is zero, so line 3 is $3,204, which goes to Form 1040, line 17.
- Early-withdrawal tax. The 10 percent additional tax on $8,000 is $800, and it goes on line 5. If code 1 is correctly shown in box 7a of her Form 1099-R and she owes the tax on the full amount, the 2026 draft Form 5329 instructions say she does not have to file Form 5329; she reports the $800 directly on line 5 and checks the box there. Lines 4, 6 through 11 and 14 are zero, so line 15 is $800. Section B is zero, so line 21 is $800, which goes to Form 1040, line 23.
Her Schedule 2 adds $3,204 at line 17 and $800 at line 23, for $4,004 in total. On the 2025 numbering the same two items would have appeared on line 1a and line 8.
What to do with this before filing season
Update any worksheet or template that cites Schedule 2 lines by number, starting with the ones people quote most: 8 to 5 (or to 18 for excess contributions and missed required distributions), 12 to 6, 9 to 17a, 17c and 17d to 13c and 13d. If you received Marketplace advance payments, run the reconciliation early, because line 1a keeps its number but, with the repayment cap gone, can carry a much larger amount than it did on a 2025 return. And remember the status of what you are reading: a draft, created April 27, 2026. The IRS posts a replacement when it changes one, so look for the final revision before you file.
Sources
- IRS, Schedule 2 (Form 1040), Additional Taxes, 2026 early release draft, “Created 4/27/26” (includes the IRS draft-status cover note): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-dft/f1040s2—dft.pdf
- IRS, Schedule 2 (Form 1040), Additional Taxes, 2025 final, “Created 5/8/25”: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040s2.pdf
- IRS, Schedule 2 (Form 1040), 2021 through 2024 revisions (line 21 totals): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/f1040s2—2024.pdf
- IRS, Form 5329, 2026 early release draft, “Created 7/31/26”: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-dft/f5329—dft.pdf
- IRS, Instructions for Form 5329 (2026), early release draft (“Who Must File,” Form 1099-R code 1): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-dft/i5329—dft.pdf
- IRS, Form 8962, 2026 early release draft, “Created 4/21/26” (line 27 to Schedule 2, line 1a; lines 28 and 29 reserved): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-dft/f8962—dft.pdf
- IRS, Instructions for Form 8962 (2026), early release draft, Table 2 (applicable figures) and poverty line table: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-dft/i8962—dft.pdf
- IRS, Instructions for Form 8962 (2025), Table 5, Repayment Limitation: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i8962.pdf
- IRS, Form 1040, 2026 early release draft, “Created 8/19/26” (lines 17 and 23): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-dft/f1040—dft.pdf
Quick answers
Where do HSA additional taxes go on the 2026 Schedule 2?
On the 2026 draft, line 13c is "Additional tax on HSA distributions. Attach Form 8889" and line 13d is "Additional tax on an HSA because you didn’t remain an eligible individual. Attach Form 8889." On the 2025 form these were lines 17c and 17d. The 6 percent tax on excess HSA contributions, figured in Part VII of Form 5329, is different: the 2026 draft Form 5329 sends it to the new line 18.
Which Schedule 2 line carries the excess advance premium tax credit repayment in 2026?
Line 1a, labeled "Excess advance premium tax credit repayment. Attach Form 8962," same as on the 2025 form. It sits in Part I, so it feeds line 3 and then Form 1040, line 17, not the Part II total on line 21. For 2026 the repayment cap no longer applies: the 2026 draft Form 8962 sends line 27 straight to Schedule 2, line 1a, and marks lines 28 and 29, which held the cap in 2025, "Reserved for future use."
Where did the 10 percent early-withdrawal tax move?
The line labeled "Additional tax on IRAs or other tax-favored accounts. Attach Form 5329 if required. If not required, check here" was line 8 in 2025 and is line 5 on the 2026 draft. The draft also adds a separate line 18 for "Additional tax on excess contributions or accumulations in IRAs or other tax-favored accounts. Attach Form 5329." The 2026 draft Form 5329 confirms the split: the 10 percent tax from Part I goes to line 5, while the excess-contribution and excess-accumulation taxes go to line 18.
Is the 2026 Schedule 2 final?
No. The version reviewed here is an IRS early release draft marked "DRAFT — DO NOT FILE" and "Created 4/27/26." The IRS says it never changes a posted draft without posting a new one, but line numbers should be rechecked against the final form before filing.
Does the Schedule 2 total still go to Form 1040 line 23?
Yes. Line 21 on the 2026 draft says to enter the total on Form 1040 or 1040-SR, line 23, or Form 1040-NR, line 23b. The 2025 form said the same. Part I, line 3 goes separately to line 17.
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