NEW YORK (AP) — The IRS released its annual inflation adjustments for the 2027 tax year, raising the standard deduction and the child tax credit. These adjustments will apply for tax returns filed in 2028.
Many of the increases, which the IRS released on Nov. 5, are routine and rise each year based on how much prices climbed. For 2027, that increase is about 3.2%. But several of the most popular tax breaks that Republicans included in their 2025 law remain fixed and do not adjust for inflation, meaning they will be worth slightly less each year.
The standard deduction for single filers will increase to $16,600 from $16,100. For married couples filing jointly the standard deduction will rise to $33,200 from $32,200. The standard deduction for heads of household will be $24,925, up from $24,150.
For a married couple earning $100,000 who use the standard deduction, their federal income tax bill would fall to $7,504 from $7,640, according to an Associated Press calculation. A single filer earning $60,000 would see their tax bill drop to $4,952 from $5,020. Those calculations assume the household’s income stays the same. Because these are inflation adjustments, workers whose pay increases with inflation will see their tax bills stay roughly unchanged.
The maximum earned income tax credit for a worker with no children will rise to $685 from $664. For a family with two children, the maximum credit will rise to $7,552 from $7,316.
The child tax credit will rise by $100 to a maximum of $2,300 per child, and the refundable portion will rise by $100 to $1,800. The 2025 law set the credit at $2,200 and tied future increases to inflation.
Several breaks from the 2025 law are not adjusted for inflation. Workers can still deduct up to $25,000 in tip income and up to $12,500 in overtime pay, or $25,000 for joint filers. People 65 and older will be able to claim an additional $6,000 deduction. All three tax breaks are set to end after the 2028 tax year unless Congress extends them.
The estate tax exclusion, which the 2025 law made permanent at $15 million, will rise with inflation to $15.48 million.
The top income tax rate stays at 37%, and in 2027 it will apply to income above $661,375 for single filers and above $793,650 for married couples filing jointly.
FILE - A draft version of the IRS 1040 tax form for 2026 is photographed on Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick, File)
LONDON (AP) — British children’s author and comedian David Walliams used his fame to groom girls and young women for sex, two British news outlets reported on Tuesday.
ITV News and the Guardian newspaper said their joint investigation featured interviews with multiple women who gave firsthand accounts of Walliams' conduct. One woman alleged she was sexually assaulted by Walliams at his London home when she was 15, while others accused him of grooming them when they were teens.
Walliams, 55, denied the allegations. He unsuccessfully sought a court injunction to bar the news outlets from identifying him, claiming that publication of sexual misconduct allegations would lead him to take his own life.
The court fight delayed publication for months, but a judge rejected his injunction request last week and the protection of his identity expired late Monday.
“I am not a sexual predator,” Walliams said in a letter to the news organizations. “I have not broken the law, but I am devastated that some of the women I met 10 to 20 years ago have now expressed hurt or anger towards me.”
“Whilst a power imbalance is inevitable when one party is famous, abusing that power is something else entirely and it is something that I never did,” he added.
Walliams is best known for comedy sketches on “Little Britain,” a hugely popular British TV show in the 2000s, but he’s also a celebrated children’s book author with some 40 published titles that sold more than 60 million copies worldwide, according to his website.
Several of them, including “Gangsta Granny,” have been adapted into BBC comedy dramas and stage productions.
Walliams was dropped last year by publisher HarperCollins after allegations were made of inappropriate behavior. Few details were published at the time, but the Guardian reported Tuesday that there were concerns about his behavior for years, including an allegation that he had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a junior female employee.
He was also a judge for a decade on “Britain’s Got Talent,” though he stepped down in 2022 after apologizing for making “disrespectful comments” about auditioning contestants.
The BBC said Tuesday it was removing some programs, including “Little Britain,” while it carried out a review of “all material featuring and written by David Walliams on our platforms."
The literary agency Independent Talent Group also said it was dropping Walliams following the new allegations.
The court fight, in which Walliams was identified in news reports as a “famous man,” drew widespread attention in Britain because it highlighted questions over public figures’ right to privacy and what media can report on the basis of public interest.
Walliams’ lawyer, Sara Mansoori, told the High Court that he had made a suicide attempt when he received letters from ITN and Guardian News and Media seeking his response to the allegations. He later made another attempt, she said, and he was recently admitted to the hospital for psychiatric care.
Attorney Gavin Millar, representing the media companies, has said that the allegations were gathered after “a wide-ranging and rigorous investigation” and that there was a strong public interest in publishing them.
Millar told the court that the investigation involved speaking to more than 100 people, and alleged that over a period of years Walliams “used his status and influence as a well-known public figure to establish contact with young women, some considerably younger than him, and that he engaged or sought to engage in seriously inappropriate conduct,” according to a summary of the court judgment.
Some of the alleged conduct could amount to criminal offenses if proven, a summary of the court judgment said.
The Metropolitan Police in London contacted the news organizations Tuesday to make sure any possible victims knew how to report criminal allegations.
In dismissing the injunction bid, Justice Matthew Nicklin said such a legal measure would mean “an exceptionally serious interference” with the rights of the media companies.
He noted that Walliams had a “serious and longstanding psychiatric vulnerability” which must be taken seriously, and said a decision allowing the allegations to be published will substantially increase his risk of suicide. However, he added that the evidence did not “establish that suicide is inevitable.”
FILE - The Royal Courts of Justice are seen in London, Oct. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)
FILE - David Walliams poses for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film "The Choral " during the London film festival in London, on Oct. 12, 2025. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP, File)
