The IRS confirmed the federal tax filing deadline is Wednesday, April 15, 2026, and the agency expects to process about 164 million individual returns this season. As of early March, the average refund stood at $3,676 — up 10.6% from the same point in 2025 — driven in part by new deductions under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Filers who overlook six consistently unclaimed deductions may be leaving hundreds of dollars on the table.
The rush to meet the deadline pushes many taxpayers past legitimate write-offs that require no receipts or complex documentation. Six deductions recur year after year among returns that leave money behind.
1. Student loan interest
The IRS allows a deduction of up to $2,500 in student loan interest paid in 2025, available even to filers who take the standard deduction. For tax year 2025, the deduction phases out for single filers with modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) between $85,000 and $100,000, and between $170,000 and $200,000 for joint filers — confirmed in IRS Publication 970 (2025). Borrowers who resumed payments after the federal pause often miss this deduction because loan servicers send Form 1098-E to outdated addresses.
2. Home office deduction
The IRS simplified method allows $5 per square foot, up to 300 square feet, for a dedicated workspace used exclusively for business. A 200-square-foot home office produces a $1,000 deduction with no depreciation calculation required. This deduction applies only to self-employed filers and freelancers — employees who receive a W-2 do not qualify for tax years through 2025. Full details are in IRS Revenue Procedure 2013-13, which remains in effect for the 2025 tax year.
3. State and local taxes (SALT)
For tax year 2025, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act raised the SALT cap significantly — filers who itemize can now deduct up to $40,000 in state income taxes, property taxes, and local taxes paid ($20,000 for married filing separately), up from the prior $10,000 limit, per the IRS announcement on 2025 tax law changes. Filers in high-tax states who have not recalculated their itemized deductions under the new cap may be defaulting to the standard deduction when itemizing would now produce a larger reduction.
4. Self-employed health insurance premiums
Freelancers and small business owners can deduct 100% of health insurance premiums paid for themselves and their families directly on Schedule 1 (Form 1040), line 17, reducing adjusted gross income — not just taxable income. This deduction does not require itemizing and applies to medical, dental, and vision coverage. A self-employed filer paying $500 per month in premiums reaches a $6,000 annual deduction. The calculation is completed on Form 7206 and cannot exceed the business’s net profit for the year.
5. Standard deduction for tax year 2025
The standard deduction for the 2025 tax year — the return filed by April 15, 2026 — is $15,750 for single filers and $31,500 for married filing jointly, after increases enacted by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, per IRS Publication 505 (2025) and confirmed by the National Taxpayers Union Foundation. These are higher than the originally projected $15,000 and $30,000 amounts. Filers who have not recalculated their position based on the updated amounts may be choosing incorrectly between the standard deduction and itemizing.
6. Medical expense threshold
Unreimbursed medical expenses exceeding 7.5% of adjusted gross income qualify for a deduction on Schedule A. For a household earning $80,000, the threshold is $6,000. Dental procedures, prescription glasses, hearing aids, and mileage to medical appointments all count toward the total. Per IRS Schedule A Instructions (2025), filers cannot include premiums already claimed as the self-employed health insurance deduction.
Why filers miss these deductions
Tax software defaults to the standard deduction when it calculates a lower liability than itemizing. For 2025, the updated standard deduction is historically high. Software automatically selects it — even when combining the standard deduction with above-the-line reductions such as student loan interest, self-employed health insurance, and IRA contributions would produce a larger combined reduction. Filers who do not run both scenarios may miss the difference.
As of March 6, roughly 60.7 million individual returns had been received, out of approximately 164 million expected by April 15, per IRS filing season statistics and CNBC reporting on the 2026 season. Nearly 45% of returns filed through March 8 claimed at least one of the new Schedule 1-A deductions, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
What to do before April 15
Filers who cannot complete their return in time can submit Form 4868 electronically before midnight on April 15 to receive an automatic six-month extension to October 15, 2026. The extension covers filing, not payment — any tax owed still accrues interest from April 16. The IRS Free File program remains available for households earning under $84,000 and closes to new returns on April 15.
April 15 is also the deadline to make IRA and HSA contributions for tax year 2025, per TurboTax’s 2026 tax deadline guide and confirmed by IRS Topic No. 301.