For most people, taxes in 2026 won’t look radically different from what they’ve seen since 2018. When Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act this summer, it locked in many of the tax rules first introduced under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. That means the basic structure – rates, brackets and the larger standard deduction – will largely continue. But tax professionals say several new wrinkles will matter for everyday filers, because some changes begin in 2025 and others start the following year.

Melissa Knisely, a senior manager at Ciuni & Panichi, Inc. in Beachwood, said many taxpayers don’t realize how close the country came to snapping back to pre-2017 rules. Without the new law, she noted “their 2026 tax rate would increase, their standard deduction would decrease, they may

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