Alternative Minimum Tax for Freelancers in 2026: When Form 6251 Applies and What Actually Triggers It

Published: October 9, 2026 · Reading time: 11 min

TL;DR: The alternative minimum tax (AMT) is a parallel tax calculation, and you owe it only when it comes out higher than your regular income tax. For 2026, the exemption is $90,100 for unmarried filers and $140,200 for joint filers, it starts to phase out at $500,000 and $1,000,000 of AMT income, and the rates are 26% and 28% (Rev. Proc. 2025-32). A Schedule C freelancer who takes the standard deduction almost never owes it. In our 2026 example, a single freelancer with $150,000 of net profit had regular income tax of $16,413.30 and a tentative minimum tax of only $6,406.99. The same freelancer who itemized $60,000 (including the $40,400 SALT cap) was still nowhere near it, at $3,593.79 against $8,686.90. What changes the answer is a big timing item, usually an incentive stock option exercise: a $100,000 spread produced $15,993.69 of AMT, and the break-even was a spread of about $38,486.

Why a Freelancer Should Know This Rule Exists

Most freelancer tax content is about the regular calculation: net profit, self-employment tax, the QBI deduction, brackets. The AMT is a second calculation that sits behind it. You run both, and you pay the larger. It is usually invisible, which is exactly why it ambushes the few people it does reach.

The IRS puts the idea this way in its Form 6251 instructions:

"The AMT is a separate tax that is imposed in addition to your regular tax. It applies to taxpayers who have certain types of income that receive favorable treatment or who qualify for certain deductions under the tax law."

How this was verified: the Instructions for Form 6251 (2025) were fetched raw from irs.gov to a temporary file on October 9, 2026, and the quoted sentences were searched after normalising whitespace and apostrophes.

For a freelancer the practical questions are narrow. Does anything in my year look like the items that trigger it? If so, how close am I? This guide answers both, with the 2026 numbers and a worked example you can adapt. It is general education about federal tax and not a substitute for a return prepared with your actual facts.

How the AMT Works in Plain English

Section 55 imposes the AMT. The statute says the tax is the excess, if any, of your tentative minimum tax over your regular tax. You compute the tentative minimum tax by taking your taxable income, making the adjustments in §56 and §58, adding the tax preference items in §57, subtracting an exemption amount, and applying 26% and 28% rates to what is left.

Verified from the raw text of 26 U.S.C. §55 on Cornell LII: §55(a) defines the tax as the excess of the tentative minimum tax over the regular tax, §55(b) defines "taxable excess" as AMT income above the exemption amount and defines alternative minimum taxable income as taxable income determined with the adjustments in sections 56 and 58 and increased by the §57 preference items. The dollar amounts printed in §55 on that page are the unindexed statutory bases, so this guide uses the 2026 indexed figures from Rev. Proc. 2025-32 instead.

Four steps, in order:

1. Start with your regular taxable income.
2. Add back the AMT adjustments and preferences to reach alternative minimum taxable income (AMTI). For 2025 the enhanced deduction for seniors on Schedule 1-A is one of them: the Form 6251 instructions say it "is treated as a personal exemption that is added back to alternative minimum taxable income as an adjustment under section 56(b)(5)(D)." Check the 2026 form for the same treatment.
3. Subtract the exemption amount. What remains is the taxable excess.
4. Apply 26% up to the threshold and 28% above it. Compare the result with your regular tax. If it is larger, the difference is your AMT.

The IRS says to attach Form 6251 if any of several statements is true. The main one is that line 7 on the 2025 form is greater than line 10, your regular tax; line 9 is the tentative minimum tax. Others include claiming certain credits, among them the credit for prior year minimum tax (Form 8801) and, in the cases the instructions list, the general business credit. Line numbers here are from the 2025 form and may change for 2026.

The 2026 Numbers

Rev. Proc. 2025-32 sets the 2026 AMT figures. Section 4.10 gives the exemption amounts, the 28% threshold and the phaseout.

Verified from the raw Rev. Proc. 2025-32 PDF, section 4.10, converted with pdftotext and read directly. The 28% threshold in the Rev. Proc. is listed as $122,250 for married individuals filing separate returns and $244,500 for all other taxpayers. Section 2.07 of the same document explains that the OBBBA (section 70107) made the increased exemption and phaseout threshold amounts permanent. The 2026 phaseout works out to 50 cents of exemption lost per dollar of AMTI over the threshold: for an unmarried filer, ($680,200 − $500,000) × 50% = $90,100, which is the full exemption.

Two things stand out:

• The exemption is large relative to a freelancer's income. A single filer with AMTI of $150,000 has a taxable excess of $59,900 and a tentative minimum tax of about $15,574.
• The exemption phases out only at very high income. Until AMTI crosses $500,000 (single), the full $90,100 applies.

For the broader picture of how deductions and credits interact, see tax deduction vs. tax credit.

What Moves Your AMT Income Up

The Form 6251 instructions list the adjustments and preferences line by line. Most are irrelevant to a freelancer. These are the ones that can matter.

Verified from the raw Instructions for Form 6251 (2025) and the raw text of 26 U.S.C. §56 and §57. The 2025 form letters its lines 2a through 2t; line numbers may change for 2026.

The standard deduction and the taxes add-back

The statute is blunt. Section 56(b)(1)(D) says:

"The standard deduction under section 63(c), the deduction for personal exemptions under section 151, and the deduction under section 642(b) shall not be allowed."

For taxes, the 2025 Form 6251 instructions say for line 2a: "If you aren’t filing Schedule A (Form 1040), then enter the standard deduction amount that you reported on Form 1040 or 1040-SR, line 12e." If you do file Schedule A, you enter the taxes from Schedule A instead.

Verified from the raw text of 26 U.S.C. §56 (Cornell LII) and the raw Instructions for Form 6251 (2025), line 2a. The instructions also note that if you owe AMT you may be able to lower your total tax by claiming itemized deductions even if they are less than the standard deduction, because you cannot claim itemized deductions for the AMT if you took the standard deduction on Form 1040.

If you itemize, read the SALT cap increase for what counts toward the $40,400 cap in 2026 and how it phases down above $505,000 of modified AGI. For the choice between itemizing and not, see standard vs. itemized deduction.

Incentive stock options

This is the item most likely to cause real AMT for a freelancer, particularly one who recently left a salaried job and still holds options. First, a timing rule decides whether the option is an ISO at all. Section 422(a)(2) requires that you were an employee of the granting company, or a parent or subsidiary, at all times from the grant until the day 3 months before the exercise, and §422(c)(6) extends the 3 months to 1 year for a disabled employee. A freelancer who exercises later than that has not exercised an ISO: the spread is generally ordinary compensation income for the regular tax, and the ISO adjustment below does not apply. Within the window, the instructions explain the AMT for line 2i:

"For the regular tax, no income is recognized when an incentive stock option (ISO), as defined in section 422(b), is exercised. However, this rule doesn’t apply for the AMT."

The amount to include is the excess of the stock's fair market value when your rights become transferable or no longer subject to a substantial risk of forfeiture over the amount you paid. And the escape hatch:

"If you acquired stock by exercising an ISO and you disposed of that stock in the same year, the tax treatment under the regular tax and the AMT is the same, and no adjustment is required."

Be clear about what that escape hatch costs. A sale in the year of exercise is a disqualifying disposition (the §422(a)(1) holding periods are 2 years from the grant and 1 year from the transfer), and the spread is then generally taxed as ordinary income under the regular tax. The instructions' own example shows ordinary income on a disqualifying disposition. The same-year sale removes the AMT mismatch by moving the tax into regular income, not by removing it.

Verified from the raw Instructions for Form 6251 (2025), line 2i, and 26 U.S.C. §56(b)(3), which states that section 421 does not apply to stock acquired by exercising an incentive stock option for AMT purposes. The 3-month, 1-year disability and holding-period rules were read in the raw text of 26 U.S.C. §422(a) and (c)(6).

Depreciation, §179 and bonus

Freelancers worry about this one and mostly shouldn't. The instructions say which depreciation is not refigured for the AMT, and the list includes:

"Any part of the cost of any property for which you elected to take a section 179 expense deduction."

and

"Qualified property that is or was eligible for a special depreciation allowance if the depreciable basis of the property is the same for the AMT and the regular tax."

Verified from the raw Instructions for Form 6251 (2025), line 2l, "What Depreciation Isn’t Refigured for the AMT?" The same instructions say property depreciated under the 200% declining balance method (generally 3-, 5-, 7- and 10-year MACRS property) is refigured unless it falls in an exception like the two above. The same paragraph then says: "If you elected not to have any special depreciation allowance apply, the property may be subject to an AMT adjustment for depreciation if it was placed in service before 2016. It isn’t subject to an AMT adjustment for depreciation if it was placed in service after 2015."

So a freelancer who buys a laptop, a camera or a vehicle and expenses it under §179 or bonus depreciation usually creates no depreciation adjustment. Electing out of bonus does not change that for property placed in service after 2015, according to the sentences quoted above. The depreciation adjustment is mostly a legacy issue for assets placed in service before 2016 that are still being depreciated. If you have an unusual asset the exceptions do not obviously cover, ask your CPA.

Research costs and software

Software freelancers who deduct development costs under §174A should look at §56(b)(2). It requires domestic research expenditures deducted under §174A(a) to be amortized over 10 years for the AMT, but subparagraph (C) carves out your own active business:

"If the taxpayer materially participates (within the meaning of section 469(h)) in an activity, this paragraph shall not apply to any amount allowable as a deduction under section 174(a) or 174A(a) for expenditures paid or incurred in connection with such activity."

Verified from the raw text of 26 U.S.C. §56(b)(2)(C) on Cornell LII (the page prints the parenthetical with a space before the closing bracket; spacing was normalised in the comparison) and the Form 6251 instructions, line 2r.

A sole proprietor who works in the business day to day materially participates, so this adjustment generally does not apply.

Net operating losses

If you carry a regular net operating loss, the AMT uses its own alternative tax NOL, which the instructions limit to 90% of AMTI figured without it. The regular and AMT carryforwards can differ, so keep both.

Worked Example: A Single Freelancer at $150,000 (2026)

Facts. A single freelance consultant files for 2026. Schedule C net profit is $150,000, there is no other income, and no one claims the consultant as a dependent. Net profit is below the Social Security wage base of $184,500 for 2026 (Publication 15 for 2026), since $150,000 × 92.35% is $138,525. The consultant's taxable income stays below the §199A threshold of $201,750 for "all other returns" (Rev. Proc. 2025-32, section 4.26), so neither the specified-service-business phase-in nor the W-2 wage limit applies. The 20%-of-taxable-income cap on the QBI deduction is checked below.

Rates and limits come from Rev. Proc. 2025-32: standard deduction $16,100 (section 4.14), single brackets of 10% to $12,400, 12% to $50,400, 22% to $105,700 and 24% to $201,775 (Table 3), and the AMT figures in the table above. The bracket table was read from the raw document.

Common figures:

• Self-employment tax: $150,000 × 92.35% × 15.3% = $21,194.33. Half, $10,597.17, is deductible.
• Qualified business income: $150,000 − $10,597.17 = $139,402.83. AGI is the same $139,402.83 because there is no other income and no other adjustment.
• The QBI deduction is the lesser of 20% of QBI ($27,880.57) or 20% of taxable income before the QBI deduction (§199A(a) and (e)(1)). The taxable-income limit binds in every column below.

Scenario A: standard deduction, no options

The consultant's taxable income sits in the 22% bracket, which runs from $50,400 to $105,700. The tentative minimum tax is less than half the regular tax, so there is no AMT and, on these facts, no Form 6251 to attach. Neither §55 nor §56 contains an adjustment for the §199A deduction, and the Form 6251 line list has none either, so the QBI deduction stays in the starting figure. Section 199A(f)(2) adds a related rule: "For purposes of determining alternative minimum taxable income under section 55, qualified business income shall be determined without regard to any adjustments under sections 56 through 59." The no-adjustment reading is ours from searching those raw texts, so a CPA should confirm it for your return.

Scenario B: the same freelancer exercises incentive stock options

Suppose the consultant left a salaried job in December 2025, holds ISOs granted by that employer, and exercised them in February 2026, within 3 months of leaving, so the §422(a)(2) employment rule is met. Assume all wages from the 2025 job were paid in 2025, so they are 2025 income and do not appear on this 2026 return. The consultant keeps the shares. The spread (fair market value over exercise price) is $100,000, assumed to be transferable and not subject to a substantial risk of forfeiture.

The option exercise adds nothing to regular income, yet the total income-tax bill roughly doubles. That is the AMT.

Where the line is

The AMT begins when the tentative minimum tax passes regular tax. In Scenario A the gap is $16,413.30 − $6,406.99 = $10,006.31. At 26%, that is absorbed by $38,485.81 of extra AMT income, so the break-even ISO spread for this freelancer is about $38,486.

Above the break-even, each extra dollar of spread costs 26 cents, which is higher than the 22% regular rate this freelancer pays. The $100,000 row matches Scenario B.

Scenario C: the same freelancer itemizes

Now take no options, but itemize $60,000: state and local taxes of $40,400 (the 2026 cap) plus $19,600 of home mortgage interest, assumed to be on the taxpayer's main home and therefore qualified housing interest that is not added back.

Even with the full $40,400 SALT add-back, the exemption swallows almost all of it. The margin only narrows when the income is far larger or other adjustments pile on.

Ordering and assumptions. Federal only. Single, under 65 (so no enhanced senior deduction to add back), no dependents, no other 2026 income, no capital gains and no credits. The ISO shares are held at year end, not sold in 2026. The numbers ignore state tax and any minimum tax credit carryover from earlier years. Every figure above was computed with a script and re-added, and the table rows were checked against the figures in the common-figures list.

Getting AMT Back: The Minimum Tax Credit

AMT is not always a permanent cost. Section 53 provides:

"There shall be allowed as a credit against the tax imposed by this chapter for any taxable year an amount equal to the minimum tax credit for such taxable year."

The credit is built from the "adjusted net minimum tax" of earlier years. Under §53(d)(1)(B), that figure leaves out the effect of the adjustments in §56(b)(1) (which include the standard deduction and the deduction for taxes) and certain preferences, so AMT caused only by those items does not create a credit. AMT caused by a timing item like an ISO exercise generally does. The 2025 Form 6251 instructions point to Form 8801 for this: "If you pay AMT for 2025, you may be able to take a credit on Form 8801 for 2026."

Verified from the raw text of 26 U.S.C. §53 (Cornell LII) and the raw Instructions for Form 6251 (2025).

The credit recovers against later regular tax, not as a refund. If you paid AMT on an ISO year, track it carefully and ask a CPA how quickly you can use it.

Planning Moves That Actually Help

If you are in the zone, these are the levers, roughly in order of impact:

1. Run the numbers before exercising options. Exercise only as much as keeps AMT near zero, or as much as you are willing to pay AMT on. The break-even in the example (about $38,486) is the sort of figure to compute in advance.
2. Weigh a same-year sale, but know what it is. The instructions say that if you dispose of the stock in the year you exercise it, regular and AMT treatment match and no adjustment is required. That sale is a disqualifying disposition, so the spread is generally taxed as ordinary income under the regular tax. Compare that bill with the AMT you would otherwise pay (which may come back as a credit), and treat the sale as an investment decision too.
3. Use the calendar, within the 3-month window. The exemption resets every year, so if your window after leaving the employer straddles December and January, splitting an exercise across the two years uses the exemption twice. Exercising after the window ends forfeits ISO treatment.
4. Don't expect equipment purchases to move the AMT. Section 179 property and qualified property eligible for the special allowance carry no AMT depreciation adjustment when the basis is the same, and property placed in service after 2015 is not subject to one even if you elected out, so the timing of a purchase is not an AMT lever.
5. Keep Form 8801 records. AMT on timing items is a prepayment, not a loss, if you track it.
6. Revisit estimated payments. AMT is a tax you owe for the year, so a large option exercise is a reason to look at your quarterly estimates rather than discover the bill in April. The Form 2210 underpayment penalty and the annualized income method are the related tools.

For a wider view of a high-income year, see tax strategies for your first six-figure year.

What the AMT Does Not Touch

• Self-employment tax. It is figured on Schedule SE and is not part of the regular-tax-versus-AMT comparison. See self-employment tax explained.
• Your Schedule C net profit. AMT adjustments are made on Form 6251, not on Schedule C. See Schedule C to Form 1040: the flow.
• The QBI deduction. As noted above, nothing in §55, §56 or the Form 6251 line list reverses it, and §199A(f)(2) says QBI is determined without regard to the §56 through §59 adjustments for AMT purposes, but see the QBI deduction guide for its own limits, which are separate and still apply.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Assuming AMT is gone. It still exists for 2026, with a $90,100 single exemption and a 26%/28% rate structure.
2. Assuming it only hits the rich. The exemption phases out only above $500,000 (single), but the ISO example reached AMT at $150,000 of net profit.
3. Exercising ISOs without a projection. The option spread is invisible on the regular return and large on Form 6251.
4. Blaming the standard deduction. The add-back is real, but the exemption exceeds it for ordinary incomes.
5. Applying the 10-year research amortization to an activity you work in. Material participation takes the activity out of that rule.
6. Forgetting the credit. AMT paid on timing items can come back through Form 8801, and not tracking it forfeits the benefit.
7. Expecting a credit for every dollar. AMT from the §56(b)(1) adjustments, such as the taxes add-back, does not build a credit.
8. Using last year's figures. The 2025 exemption was $88,100 single and $137,000 joint. The 2026 figures are $90,100 and $140,200.
9. Treating the worked example as your answer. Its facts are narrow and yours are not.

How CentSense Helps

CentSense is built around Schedule C. It is not tax-preparation software, and it does not compute the AMT, Form 6251 or option exercises. What it does is give you reliable inputs for the number the whole calculation begins with, net profit.

• Scan business receipts with AI the day you pay them, categorized to the matching Schedule C line, so net profit is neither overstated nor understated
• Log mileage by date for business driving, so a legitimate vehicle deduction is documented
• Keep equipment purchase receipts in one place, which makes it easier for your CPA to document §179 and bonus depreciation decisions
• Export your categorized year as CSV or a CPA-ready export, so your preparer can run Form 6251 against a clean profit figure

The free tier includes 10 AI receipt scans a month, and the Solo plan is $5/month for unlimited scans, mileage tracking and CSV export. CentSense does not tell you whether you owe AMT. It gives your CPA the business records the calculation starts from.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do freelancers have to pay the alternative minimum tax in 2026?

Only if the tentative minimum tax on Form 6251 is larger than your regular income tax, and for a typical single Schedule C filer who takes the standard deduction it is not. The IRS describes the AMT as a separate tax imposed in addition to your regular tax. In the worked example, a single freelancer with $150,000 of net profit had a regular income tax of $16,413.30 and a tentative minimum tax of only $6,406.99, so no AMT. Self-employment tax is figured separately on Schedule SE and is not part of that comparison. The example is federal only and uses 2026 figures from Rev. Proc. 2025-32; your result depends on your own deductions, income and credits.

What is the 2026 AMT exemption amount and when does it phase out?

Rev. Proc. 2025-32 sets the 2026 exemption at $140,200 for joint returns and surviving spouses, $90,100 for unmarried individuals, and $70,100 for married filing separately. The exemption starts to phase out when alternative minimum taxable income passes $500,000 for unmarried individuals ($1,000,000 for joint returns) and is gone at $680,200 ($1,280,400 joint). The 26% rate applies to the first $244,500 of taxable excess ($122,250 if married filing separately) and 28% applies above that. These figures apply to taxable years beginning in 2026 and are adjusted again for later years.

Does taking the standard deduction cause AMT?

Not by itself. The standard deduction is not allowed for the AMT, so Form 6251 adds it back, and for a filer who does not itemize the instructions tell you to enter the standard deduction amount reported on Form 1040. That add-back is large, but the 2026 exemption of $90,100 for a single filer ($140,200 joint) is larger, which is why the add-back alone rarely produces AMT. In the worked example, a single freelancer with $150,000 of net profit added back the $16,100 standard deduction and still had a tentative minimum tax of $6,406.99 against regular tax of $16,413.30. The example is federal only and assumes no other adjustments.

Does the higher $40,400 SALT cap make AMT more likely for a freelancer who itemizes?

It can add to the AMT adjustment, because taxes deducted on Schedule A are not allowed in figuring the AMT, but at ordinary freelancer incomes it did not produce AMT in our example. A single freelancer with $150,000 of net profit who itemized $60,000 ($40,400 of state and local taxes at the 2026 cap plus $19,600 of home mortgage interest, assumed to be qualified housing interest) had regular tax of $8,686.90 and a tentative minimum tax of $3,593.79, so no AMT. The $40,400 cap applies to 2026 and phases down for modified AGI above $505,000, so a very high earner can see a different result. Confirm your own numbers on Form 6251.

How do incentive stock options (ISOs) trigger AMT for someone who also freelances?

Exercising an incentive stock option (ISO) is not taxed for the regular tax, but for the AMT the difference between the stock's fair market value and the exercise price is generally an adjustment on Form 6251. ISO treatment requires that you were an employee of the company that granted the option (or a parent or subsidiary) at all times from the grant until 3 months before the exercise, or 1 year if you are disabled, under section 422(a)(2) and (c)(6). A freelancer who left a job therefore generally has to exercise within 3 months of leaving; outside that window the option no longer qualifies as an ISO, the spread is generally ordinary compensation income for the regular tax, and there is no section 56(b)(3) ISO adjustment. Selling the stock in the year you exercise is not a free pass: it is a disqualifying disposition, so the spread is generally taxed as ordinary income under the regular tax, and the AMT and regular treatment then match. In the worked example, a single freelancer under 65 with $150,000 of net profit, who left a salaried job in December 2025, exercised in February 2026 and held the shares, crossed into AMT once the spread exceeded about $38,486. A $100,000 spread produced $15,993.69 of AMT on top of $16,413.30 of regular tax, and each extra dollar above the break-even cost 26 cents. The example assumes the stock is held at year end, no other AMT adjustments, and a single filer in 2026.

Which Schedule C items can create an AMT adjustment?

Mainly depreciation on older property or on property that was not eligible for the special allowance, research and experimental costs, a net operating loss, passive or at-risk activity adjustments and gains or losses on business property. The Form 6251 instructions do not refigure depreciation for property where you elected a section 179 deduction or for qualified property whose depreciable basis is the same for the AMT and regular tax, which includes property that received the special depreciation allowance. They also say that if you elected out of the special allowance, property placed in service after 2015 is not subject to an AMT depreciation adjustment, while property placed in service before 2016 may be. Research and experimental costs deducted under section 174A(a) must generally be amortized over 10 years for the AMT, but the statute says that rule does not apply to an activity in which you materially participate, which covers most sole proprietors. A freelancer with recently bought equipment who works in the business full time usually has little or no Schedule C adjustment.

Can I get AMT back later through the minimum tax credit?

Sometimes. Section 53 allows a credit against regular tax for the minimum tax credit, which is based on AMT paid in prior years, and Form 8801 is the form that figures it. The credit is not available for AMT caused by the section 56(b)(1) adjustments, which include the add-back of deducted taxes and the standard deduction, so AMT from those items is a permanent cost. AMT caused by timing items such as an ISO exercise is the type that generates a credit carryforward. The credit is used against regular tax in later years, not refunded on demand, so plan for the cash outlay now and ask a CPA how fast you can use it.

Authoritative References

• 26 U.S.C. §55 — Alternative minimum tax imposed (Cornell LII)
• 26 U.S.C. §56 — Adjustments in computing alternative minimum taxable income (Cornell LII)
• 26 U.S.C. §57 — Items of tax preference (Cornell LII)
• 26 U.S.C. §53 — Credit for prior year minimum tax liability (Cornell LII)
• 26 U.S.C. §164 — Taxes (Cornell LII)
• IRS — Instructions for Form 6251, Alternative Minimum Tax—Individuals
• IRS — Rev. Proc. 2025-32 (2026 AMT exemption, standard deduction, brackets and §199A thresholds)
• IRS — Publication 15 (Circular E), Employer's Tax Guide (2026 Social Security wage base)
• IRS — Form 8801, Credit for Prior Year Minimum Tax

For related reading, see Self-Employment Tax Explained, The SALT Cap Increase, Section 179 Deduction, Bonus Depreciation, QBI Deduction for Freelancers and Qualified Small Business Stock.

Start with an accurate net profit. Start a free CentSense account, scan business receipts with AI, log mileage by date, and export a CPA-ready category breakdown at tax time. The free tier includes 10 AI receipt scans a month, no credit card required, and the Solo plan is $5/month for unlimited scans, mileage tracking and CSV export. CentSense does not compute AMT or track stock options.

This guide is general education for U.S. freelancers filing in 2026. It is not personalized tax advice. Whether you owe the AMT, how an option exercise or a large deduction interacts with it, and whether the minimum tax credit is available turn on facts a CPA or EA should confirm. The worked examples are federal only, ignore state tax and assume the stated facts; the form and line numbers cited are from the 2025 forms and instructions and may change for 2026.