Title 26 › Subtitle Subtitle A— - Income Taxes › Chapter CHAPTER 1— - NORMAL TAXES AND SURTAXES › Subchapter Subchapter B— - Computation of Taxable Income › Part PART VI— - ITEMIZED DEDUCTIONS FOR INDIVIDUALS AND CORPORATIONS › § 199A
If you are not a corporation, you can take a deduction each year equal to the smaller of two amounts: your "combined qualified business income amount," or 20% of your taxable income after subtracting any net capital gain. The combined amount is mostly 20% of the net income from each of your pass-through businesses, plus 20% of certain REIT dividends and certain partnership income, but each business share can be limited by how much you pay in W–2 wages and by the cost of certain depreciable property. That wage-and-property limit uses either 50% of W–2 wages or 25% of W–2 wages plus 2.5% of the unadjusted basis of qualified property, whichever is larger. If your taxable income is at or below $157,500 ($315,000 for joint returns) the wage-and-property limit does not apply; if your income is between that threshold and $157,500 plus $75,000 ($315,000 plus $150,000 joint) the limit phases in. There are special rules for partnerships, S corporations, agricultural cooperatives, owners’ pay, certain investment or service businesses, reporting, and short tax years. The IRS will write rules where needed. If you have at least $1,000 of qualifying business income and materially participate, you are guaranteed at least a $400 deduction; those dollar amounts are adjusted for inflation after specified years. Definitions in one line each: combined qualified business income amount — the total used to figure the deduction; qualified business income — net income, gains, losses, and deductions from a pass-through business (excludes the REIT and public partnership items); qualified trade or business — a business that is not an excluded service trade or an employee job; W–2 wages — wages reported under payroll rules for employees; qualified property — tangible depreciable property used in the business; specified service trade or business — businesses that mostly provide certain professional, investing, or trading services (treated differently above income limits); applicable taxpayer / active qualified trade or business — a non-corporate taxpayer with at least $1,000 of qualifying business income from a business in which they materially participate.
Full Legal Text
Internal Revenue Code — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Legislative History
Reference
Citation
26 U.S.C. § 199A
Title 26 — Internal Revenue Code
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73