The Virginia standard deduction is $8,750 for single filers and $17,500 for married couples filing jointly for tax years 2025 and 2026. Married filers using separate returns also get $8,750 each. The amount comes off your Virginia adjusted gross income before the state applies its tax rates, and you claim it on Line 11 of Form 760.1Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 58.1-322.03 – Virginia Taxable Income; Deductions
One catch decides whether you can use it at all: Virginia forces your deduction method to match your federal return. Everything else is arithmetic.
Amounts by Filing Status
- Single: $8,750
- Married filing jointly: $17,500
- Married filing separately: $8,750 each
The same figures apply to the 2025 return you file by May 1, 2026 and to the 2026 return you file in 2027.1Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 58.1-322.03 – Virginia Taxable Income; Deductions For comparison, they were $8,500 and $17,000 in tax year 2024, and $8,000 and $16,000 in tax years 2022 and 2023.
You Must Match Your Federal Choice
If you itemized deductions on your federal Form 1040, you have to itemize on Virginia. If you took the federal standard deduction, you take the Virginia standard deduction.2Virginia Department of Taxation. Deductions No mixing.
This rule bites when your itemized total sits between the two thresholds. Suppose you have $14,000 in itemizable expenses as a single filer. The federal standard deduction for 2026 is $16,100,3Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026 so you’d take the federal standard deduction. Virginia’s conformity rule then locks you into the $8,750 Virginia standard deduction, even though your $14,000 in itemized expenses would have been the better Virginia number. Check the math both ways before you finalize your federal return.
The 2027 Sunset
Under current law, the Virginia standard deduction drops back to pre-2019 levels after tax year 2026: $3,000 for single filers and $6,000 for married joint filers.1Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 58.1-322.03 – Virginia Taxable Income; Deductions The Department of Taxation confirms the reversion in its 2025 Form 760PY instructions.4Virginia Department of Taxation. 2025 Form 760PY Instructions Whether the General Assembly extends the higher amounts is worth watching if you plan around your Virginia tax bill.
If Someone Else Claims You as a Dependent
Your Virginia standard deduction may be reduced if you can be claimed as a dependent on another taxpayer’s federal return. Use the reduced-standard-deduction worksheet referenced in the Form 760PY instructions to compute the smaller amount.4Virginia Department of Taxation. 2025 Form 760PY Instructions This typically affects students and teenagers with part-time earnings whose parents still claim them.
Part-Year Residents and Nonresidents
Full-year residents claim the deduction on Form 760. Part-year residents file Form 760PY and must prorate the standard deduction based on the portion of the year they lived in Virginia. Nonresidents with Virginia-source income file Form 763.2Virginia Department of Taxation. Deductions Virginia requires a return from every resident who has to file federally, and from nonresidents earning income from Virginia sources such as wages from a Virginia employer or rental income from Virginia property.5Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 58.1-341 – Returns of Individuals
How to Claim It on Form 760
On Form 760, enter the standard deduction on Line 11. Write $8,750 if you file as single or married filing separately, or $17,500 if you file jointly. Complete your federal return first, because Virginia uses your federal adjusted gross income as its starting point and needs to match your federal deduction method.
Confirm the federal return actually used the standard deduction. If a preparer itemized federally without your realizing it, your Virginia return must follow, and Line 11 would carry Virginia itemized deductions rather than the flat amount.
Other Subtractions That Stack With It
The standard deduction is one of several items that reduce your Virginia taxable income. Two others apply to most filers.
Personal Exemptions
Virginia gives you a $930 exemption for yourself, a $930 exemption for your spouse on a joint return, and $930 for each dependent claimed on your federal return.6Virginia Department of Taxation. Exemptions A married couple with two children claims four exemptions worth $3,720 in total. Part-year residents prorate this amount too.
Age Deduction
Taxpayers born on or before January 1, 1960 may claim an age deduction of up to $12,000 on top of the standard deduction.7Virginia Department of Taxation. Subtractions How much you get depends on when you were born and how much you earn:
- Born on or before January 1, 1939: the full $12,000, no income test.
- Born January 2, 1939 through January 1, 1960: the $12,000 phases out dollar-for-dollar once your adjusted federal adjusted gross income (Social Security and Tier 1 Railroad benefits excluded) exceeds $50,000 for single filers or $75,000 for married filers.
Each qualifying spouse claims their own age deduction, so a couple where both qualify could subtract up to $24,000 together. You can’t claim both the age deduction and the disability income subtraction in the same year.
Comparison With the Federal Amount
Virginia’s numbers are roughly half the federal ones. For tax year 2026, the federal standard deduction is $16,100 single and $32,200 married filing jointly.3Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026 The federal figure adjusts each year for inflation. Virginia’s is set by statute and only changes when the General Assembly passes new legislation, which is why it’s stuck at the same number across 2025 and 2026 and set to fall in 2027 without further action.