Bloomberg Tax and Accounting released its 2027 Projected U.S. Tax Rates report in September 2026, forecasting a 3.2% inflation adjustment across federal tax brackets and thresholds. That is a larger step up than the 2.7% adjustment applied for the current tax year.
These are projections, not official figures. The IRS typically publishes its own inflation-adjusted numbers in the late fall, and the value of the early estimate is planning time rather than certainty.
What The Projections Show
The standard deduction is projected to reach $33,200 for married couples filing jointly and $16,600 for single filers in 2027. Bracket thresholds shift upward by similar proportions across the rate schedule.
As one illustration, the projection puts the 12% bracket for married couples at taxable income from $25,601 to $104,050, with the top of that range rising $3,250 from the current year. Every threshold moving up means a given income is taxed slightly more favorably than it would have been without the adjustment.
One methodological note matters here. Because the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish a consumer price index report for October 2025 during a lapse in federal appropriations, the chained CPI measure underlying these calculations was computed on an eleven-month average rather than a full year.
Why This Matters For Self-Employed Filers
Bracket and deduction thresholds do more work for the self-employed than for wage earners, because a sole proprietor controls the timing of a great deal of income and expense. Knowing roughly where the 2027 lines fall makes that timing a decision rather than a guess.
The qualified business income deduction is the clearest example. Its phase-in and phase-out ranges are indexed, so a projected shift in thresholds can change whether accelerating an invoice into December or pushing it to January leaves you better off.
The practical caveat is that a projection is not a filing instruction. Using these numbers to shape a year-end plan is reasonable, and using them to compute an actual return is not.
What Self-Employed Readers Should Do Next
Treat this as the opening of year-end planning season rather than a reason to act today. The useful move now is to estimate where your 2026 taxable income will land, since that is the figure any December decision will turn on.
If you are close to a bracket edge or a deduction phase-out, flag it now and revisit once the IRS releases official numbers. The gap between a projection and the final figure is usually small, but it is exactly large enough to matter at a threshold.
Keep current-year obligations separate from next-year planning. Quarterly estimated payments are still governed by this year’s rules, a distinction laid out in coverage of the Q3 estimated tax deadline.
What To Watch Next
The official IRS inflation adjustments for 2027 are expected in the coming weeks and will supersede these estimates. Comparing the two is worth a few minutes, because a meaningful divergence would signal that the shortened CPI window mattered more than expected.
Social Security figures for 2027, including the taxable earnings base that drives self-employment tax, arrive on a separate schedule in October. Those numbers, rather than the income tax brackets, tend to be the larger swing factor for a solo filer’s total bill.
