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State tax docs / States / Kentucky

Kentucky state income tax: engine rules, 2026

How the QuantCalc engine computes Kentucky tax for tax year 2026, rule by rule, with the official source for each rule. Verification status: Worksheet-tested (what this means).

On this page: How the tax is computed · Rate schedule · Deductions, exemptions and credits · Age 65+ subtractions and credits · Social Security · IRA, 401(k) and private pensions · Public pensions · Military retirement pay · Roth conversions · Capital gains · Blindness and disability · Part-year and nonresident returns · Worked examples · After 2026 · Not calculated · Verification. Machine-readable: this state's entry in the engine config and the provenance file (key KY).

How the tax is computed

Every step the engine takes for Kentucky, in the order it takes them. Steps marked with a filing status or household type apply only there. Each step links the section below that carries Kentucky's figures and the official sources for it; the calculation order page describes every step for all jurisdictions.

What each filing status gets, read back from the engine for a household with $1 of income (so below every phase-out and income test):

SingleMarried filing jointlyMarried filing separatelyHead of household
Rate schedule usedsingle schedulejoint schedulejoint schedule, thresholds halvedsingle schedule
Top rate3.5% flat3.5% flat3.5% flat3.5% flat
Standard deduction, under 65$3,360$3,360$3,360$3,360
Standard deduction at 70 (joint: both 70)$3,360$3,360$3,360$3,360
Personal exemptionnonenonenonenone
Age subtractions at 70 (joint: both 70)nonenonenonenone
  1. Per-person mode joint returns with the spouse's age given On a joint return with the spouse's age given, every age test the state applies per taxpayer is evaluated for each spouse at their own age. Without it one household age applies to both.
    engine step (compute_state_tax_detail). Engine convention, no external source: The engine cannot know the second spouse's age unless told.
  2. Blindness and disability, per person only when the caller says a person is blind or disabled The filer is person one; the spouse counts only on a joint return and only when the caller says so (there is no household convention as for age). Where a state lets a disabled person (and, where it says so, a blind one, or one whose spouse is disabled) qualify for its general retirement exclusion before the age, that person is treated as having reached the age for that exclusion only. Of the 42 taxing jurisdictions, these have a blind amount: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Utah, Vermont and Virginia; these have none: Alabama, Connecticut, Georgia, Louisiana, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, West Virginia and Wisconsin. A disability route is calculated in Arkansas, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, Oregon and West Virginia.
    engine step (compute_state_tax_detail). Engine convention, no external source: Who is blind or disabled is the caller's statement; the engine has no household convention for it.
  3. Rate schedule and standard deduction by filing status Single uses the single schedule and deduction; married filing jointly the joint ones. Head of household and married filing separately follow the two steps below.
    Kentucky's values · engine step (select_brackets). Sources (Rate schedule): 2026 Kentucky Withholding Tax Formula (42A003(TCF)(10-2025)) (checked 2026-10-12)
  4. Married filing separately Where the state publishes its own separate schedule, that one (with half the joint deduction unless a separate deduction is set). Where one schedule applies to every status, that schedule unscaled with the single deduction. Otherwise the joint schedule with every threshold and the deduction halved (computed as the joint tax on twice the income, halved).
    Kentucky's values · engine step (select_brackets). Sources (Rate schedule): 2026 Kentucky Withholding Tax Formula (42A003(TCF)(10-2025)) (checked 2026-10-12)
  5. Head of household The state's head-of-household schedule where it has one, else the single schedule; the head-of-household deduction where set, else the single deduction.
    Kentucky's values · engine step (select_brackets). Sources (Rate schedule): 2026 Kentucky Withholding Tax Formula (42A003(TCF)(10-2025)) (checked 2026-10-12)
  6. A separate deduction for married filing separately married filing separately Where set, this amount replaces the deduction the schedule rule above gives married filing separately.
    Kentucky's values · engine step (compute_state_tax_detail). Sources (Deductions, exemptions and credits): Kentucky DOR Announces 2026 Standard Deduction (checked 2026-10-12); 2026 Kentucky Withholding Tax Formula (42A003(TCF)(10-2025)) (checked 2026-10-12); 2025 Kentucky Individual Income Tax Forms (Form 740 instructions packet) (checked 2026-10-12); Kentucky Department of Revenue: Schedule ITC (2025).pdf (checked 2026-10-12); 2026 HHS poverty guidelines (checked 2026-10-12); 2025 Form 740 packet instructions (separate returns, family size credit) (checked 2026-10-12)
  7. The income total every income test uses Other ordinary income + retirement distributions (before any exclusion) + conversion + federally taxable Social Security + long-term gains + Railroad Retirement Tier 2. It stands in for federal adjusted gross income in every threshold, cliff and phase-out below; state subtractions do not reduce it.
    engine step (compute_state_tax_detail). Engine convention, no external source: The inputs are the federal AGI components, so their sum is federal AGI for these income types.
  8. Attributing income to each spouse joint returns with each spouse's own amounts given With a caller's split (the API's spouse object), each spouse's own distributions (employer-plan money included), pension, public pension, conversion, wages and military pay; spouse 2's shares are clamped into the household totals and spouse 1 gets the rest. Without a split, in per-person mode, every item is divided 50/50. Social Security is divided by each spouse's own gross benefits where the caller gives spouse.socialSecurityGross, else 50/50; other ordinary income and gains are always divided 50/50 where a rule needs a per-person amount. The split is used only where a state's rule is per taxpayer; household totals stay authoritative for the base and the income tests.
    engine step (compute_state_tax_detail). Engine convention, no external source: Equal attribution is the neutral split when the owner of a dollar is not known.
  9. Keeping the per-spouse shares inside the household joint returns with each spouse's own amounts given After the public-pension and employer-pension carve-outs, if the two spouses' remaining shares add up to more than the household's exclusion-eligible distributions (an inconsistent split), spouse 1's share is reduced so they do not.
    engine step (compute_state_tax_detail). Engine convention, no external source: Input normalisation.
  10. Military retirement pay The state's military rule runs first, on military pay alone, per taxpayer: each spouse's own pay at their own age when attributed, otherwise half each at the household age on a joint return. Exempt dollars leave the base; the rest become pension dollars for the general retirement rules. Where the state lets a disabled retiree qualify at any age, a disabled person is treated as having reached the rule's age.
    Kentucky's values · engine step (compute_state_tax_detail). Sources (Military retirement pay): Military Tax Issues (checked 2026-10-12); Schedule P (2025) (checked 2026-10-12)
  11. Capital-loss deduction off the base The deduction comes off the other ordinary income (negative income, as Form 1040 line 7a is), so the base and every state-AGI figure summed from it carry it; WI no more than Wisconsin ordinary income (Schedule WD line 28(c)). States whose base is federal taxable income (with the caller's figure) already have it there and take it only once. Engine 1.13.1: the allowed rental loss comes off the same way, on its own line (rental_loss_deduction).
    Kentucky's values · engine step (compute_state_tax_detail). Sources (Capital gains): 2025 Kentucky Individual Income Tax Forms (Form 740 instructions packet) (checked 2026-10-12); Form 740 Packet Instructions (checked 2026-10-12); 2025 Schedule D (Form 1040), Capital Gains and Losses (checked 2026-10-12)
  12. Social Security exempt None of the federally taxable benefit enters the base.
    Kentucky's values · engine step (ss_amount_in_state_base). Sources (Social Security): 2025 Kentucky Individual Income Tax Forms (Form 740 instructions packet) (checked 2026-10-12)
  13. Does a conversion draw the retirement cap? Where the state lets a conversion draw the capped exclusion, and the filer is at or above the conversion age (the state's own pooling age where it has one; any age for a disabled person where the state says so), the conversion is pooled with distributions against the cap. A spouse who elects not to claim the exclusion draws none of it.
    Kentucky's values · engine step (compute_state_tax_detail). Sources (Roth conversions): 2025 Kentucky Individual Income Tax Forms (Form 740 instructions packet) (checked 2026-10-12)
  14. Retirement exclusion per spouse (both ages known) joint returns with the spouse's age given Full-exclusion states exclude each qualifying spouse's own dollars. Capped states give each spouse the single cap for their own age against their own eligible dollars (pension dollars only where the exclusion is pension-only; employer dollars only below the IRA age), less their military exclusion and their own Social Security offset (by the spouse's stated gross benefits, else half). Per-return states (and the pooled-if-both-qualify rule when both qualify) apply the joint cap to the couple's pooled eligible dollars when either spouse qualifies. The income tests then apply once to the summed deduction.
    Kentucky's values · engine step (compute_state_tax_detail). Sources (IRA, 401(k) and private pensions): Schedule P (2025), Kentucky Pension Income Exclusion (42A740-P) (checked 2026-10-12); 2025 Kentucky Individual Income Tax Forms (Form 740 instructions packet) (checked 2026-10-12)
  15. Conversion pooled with distributions The conversion joins the distributions against the one cap (with a spouse split in a per-taxpayer state, each spouse's own distributions and conversion against that spouse's cap). Nothing of the conversion is added separately.
    Kentucky's values · engine step (compute_state_tax_detail). Sources (Roth conversions): 2025 Kentucky Individual Income Tax Forms (Form 740 instructions packet) (checked 2026-10-12)
  16. Retirement exclusion (household) The distributions eligible for the exclusion go through the exclusion below. Taxable public-pension dollars left by a cap are not eligible; below the IRA age only employer-plan dollars are.
    Kentucky's values · engine step (compute_state_tax_detail). Sources (IRA, 401(k) and private pensions): Schedule P (2025), Kentucky Pension Income Exclusion (42A740-P) (checked 2026-10-12); 2025 Kentucky Individual Income Tax Forms (Form 740 instructions packet) (checked 2026-10-12)
  17. Conversion taxed or exempt In full-exclusion states a conversion is exempt at the qualifying age (at any age where the state says so). Elsewhere, unless pooled above, it is ordinary income taxed in full.
    Kentucky's values · engine step (compute_state_tax_detail). Sources (Roth conversions): 2025 Kentucky Individual Income Tax Forms (Form 740 instructions packet) (checked 2026-10-12)
  18. Cap by age tier The full cap at or above the exclusion age, the lower cap at or above the partial age, otherwise none. Joint returns use the joint cap; every other status the single cap.
    Kentucky's values · engine step (retirement_distributions_in_state_base). Sources (IRA, 401(k) and private pensions): Schedule P (2025), Kentucky Pension Income Exclusion (42A740-P) (checked 2026-10-12); 2025 Kentucky Individual Income Tax Forms (Form 740 instructions packet) (checked 2026-10-12)
  19. The capped deduction Deduction = the smaller of the eligible distributions and the cap, then reduced by the income limit above; the rest of the distributions stays in the base.
    Kentucky's values · engine step (retirement_distributions_in_state_base). Sources (IRA, 401(k) and private pensions): Schedule P (2025), Kentucky Pension Income Exclusion (42A740-P) (checked 2026-10-12); 2025 Kentucky Individual Income Tax Forms (Form 740 instructions packet) (checked 2026-10-12)
  20. One taxpayer's cap joint returns with the spouse's age given For per-spouse calculations, each spouse's cap is the single-column cap for their age tier.
    Kentucky's values · engine step (per_taxpayer_cap_single). Sources (IRA, 401(k) and private pensions): Schedule P (2025), Kentucky Pension Income Exclusion (42A740-P) (checked 2026-10-12); 2025 Kentucky Individual Income Tax Forms (Form 740 instructions packet) (checked 2026-10-12)
  21. Long-term gains in the base Where gains are taxed as ordinary income: net long-term gain less the flat exclusion (never below zero), times the inclusion share. Elsewhere none enters.
    Kentucky's values · engine step (compute_state_tax_detail). Sources (Capital gains): 2025 Kentucky Individual Income Tax Forms (Form 740 instructions packet) (checked 2026-10-12); Form 740 Packet Instructions (checked 2026-10-12); 2025 Schedule D (Form 1040), Capital Gains and Losses (checked 2026-10-12)
  22. State taxable income Other ordinary income + Social Security, retirement income, conversion and gains left in the base − standard deduction − personal exemption − age subtractions.
    engine step (compute_state_tax_detail). Engine convention, no external source: The order of subtraction follows the state forms; each amount is sourced at its own step.
  23. No tax at or below zero State taxable income at or below zero returns a tax of 0 (credits are not refundable), unless the state has a tax computed apart from taxable income that still applies (next step).
    engine step (compute_state_tax_detail). Engine convention, no external source: Every credit the engine carries is nonrefundable, so nothing below can make a zero tax negative; each credit is sourced at its own step.
  24. Separate-return scaling married filing separately For the halved-joint rule, taxable income is doubled before the schedule and the result halved.
    Kentucky's values · engine step (compute_state_tax_detail). Sources (Rate schedule): 2026 Kentucky Withholding Tax Formula (42A003(TCF)(10-2025)) (checked 2026-10-12)
  25. The rate schedule Each bracket's rate on the part of taxable income inside it, summed. No rounding: the result is carried in full precision.
    Kentucky's values · engine step (apply_state_brackets). Sources (Rate schedule): 2026 Kentucky Withholding Tax Formula (42A003(TCF)(10-2025)) (checked 2026-10-12)
  26. Senior credit The credit per taxpayer at or above the age: two on a joint return at the household age, one per qualifying spouse in per-person mode. A head of household's extra personal credit is not a second senior credit.
    Kentucky's values · engine step (compute_state_tax_detail). Sources (Age 65+ subtractions and credits): 2025 Schedule ITC (checked 2026-10-12)
  27. Credit for blindness only when the caller says a person is blind or disabled The credit for each blind person.
    Kentucky's values · engine step (compute_state_tax_detail). Sources (Blindness and disability): 2025 Schedule ITC (checked 2026-10-12)
  28. Family size and household credits Family size credits: a share of the tax left after the personal credits, by family size (the filer, the spouse on a joint return, and the dependents — every dependent, or only qualifying children, as the state says; at most the state's largest size) and the income total, from the state's table (separate returns: half every limit where the state says so). Household credits: an amount by income (single) or by income and household size (joint and head of household; separate returns their own table).
    Kentucky's values · engine step (compute_state_tax_detail). Sources (Deductions, exemptions and credits): Kentucky DOR Announces 2026 Standard Deduction (checked 2026-10-12); 2026 Kentucky Withholding Tax Formula (42A003(TCF)(10-2025)) (checked 2026-10-12); 2025 Kentucky Individual Income Tax Forms (Form 740 instructions packet) (checked 2026-10-12); Kentucky Department of Revenue: Schedule ITC (2025).pdf (checked 2026-10-12); 2026 HHS poverty guidelines (checked 2026-10-12); 2025 Form 740 packet instructions (separate returns, family size credit) (checked 2026-10-12)
  29. Credits cannot make the tax negative The credits are subtracted and the result floored at zero.
    engine step (compute_state_tax_detail). Engine convention, no external source: Every credit the engine carries is nonrefundable; each credit is sourced at its own step.
  30. Qualifying surviving spouse qualifying surviving spouse returns A qualifying surviving spouse (filingStatus qss) is one person on the return, taxed from the single figures with the state's own treatment of the status laid over them: where the state says so, the joint rate schedule, the joint standard deduction, the joint personal exemption, the joint income limits and phase-outs (only those the state sets for joint returns), the married 65+ and blindness amounts, or the head-of-household return; where the state gives the status nothing of its own, the single return. The federal figures the engine derives for the status are the federal qualifying-surviving-spouse ones (the joint standard deduction, the married 65+ amount).
    Kentucky's values · engine step (state_tax_effective_config). Sources (Rate schedule): 2026 Kentucky Withholding Tax Formula (42A003(TCF)(10-2025)) (checked 2026-10-12)
  31. Railroad Retirement benefits only when the caller gives Railroad Retirement benefits Railroad Retirement benefits are never taxed by a state (45 U.S.C. §231m). Tier 2 (railroadRetirementTier2) is in the income total the tests use but never in the base. Tier 1 (railroadRetirementTier1) is a part of the gross benefits (socialSecurityGross); its share of the taxable benefits is taken out of the Social Security every state rule sees, so a state that taxes Social Security never reaches it. Where a state's worksheet says so, the benefits reduce a retirement cap or subtraction (ID, IN, MD, ME, MN: both tiers; MI: the taxable railroad benefits); Minnesota's and Utah's Social Security rules test an income without them, Minnesota's, New Jersey's and California's retirement income tests an income without Tier 2; Ohio and Delaware test their own AGI everywhere, which never holds the benefits.
    Kentucky's values · engine step (compute_state_tax_detail). Sources (Social Security): 2025 Kentucky Individual Income Tax Forms (Form 740 instructions packet) (checked 2026-10-12)
  32. The capital-loss deduction the state allows With a net capital loss (capitalLoss): the smaller of the loss and the state's limit (the federal $3,000 / $1,500 where the state follows the federal return; MA $2,000, and no more than the interest and dividends); AL the loss less the part carried in, unlimited; PA and NJ none. It comes off the income total the income tests use (and the Social Security worksheets' income); the gross-income filing test (LA) reads the total before it. Engine 1.13.1: with a rental loss (rentalNetIncome below 0, the federal Schedule E line 26 amount) the state allows, the whole loss where the state starts from federal AGI or follows the federal schedule, none in PA and NJ (rental_loss_no_offset): it comes off the same income the same way; a rental profit is other ordinary income.
    Kentucky's values · engine step (compute_state_tax_detail). Sources (Capital gains): 2025 Kentucky Individual Income Tax Forms (Form 740 instructions packet) (checked 2026-10-12); Form 740 Packet Instructions (checked 2026-10-12); 2025 Schedule D (Form 1040), Capital Gains and Losses (checked 2026-10-12)
  33. Each spouse's own Social Security joint returns On a joint return, each spouse's own Social Security is the spouse's share of the benefits by spouse.socialSecurityGross when the caller gives it (Tier 1 railroad benefits left out), else half each. It is what the per-spouse rules read: Colorado's per-spouse subtraction, Rhode Island's per-spouse modification, and the Maine, Maryland and other retirement caps reduced by the benefits each spouse received (with each spouse's own railroad benefits where the state counts them).
    Kentucky's values · engine step (compute_state_tax_detail). Sources (Social Security): 2025 Kentucky Individual Income Tax Forms (Form 740 instructions packet) (checked 2026-10-12)
  34. Refundable state credits The credits paid beyond the tax (reported in refundableCredits; netTax = totalTax less them): earned income credits as a share of the federal EIC with each state's own age band (OK on the 2020 federal credit, DC's own childless schedule, the CalEITC table, MN's Working Family Credit), the NYC EIC and school tax credits, and the property-tax, renter, grocery and senior credits of MA, MI, NJ, ID, HI, NM, OK, AZ, NY, RI, WV, ME, DC, MN, MO, WI, IN and MT, each on its own income measure. Engine 1.13.1: a part-year NYC resident's school tax credits (the Table 2 proration chart and the rate-reduction amount on IT-360.1 line 47; IT-203 lines 60 / 60a for a part-year state resident).
    Kentucky's values · engine step (state_tax_refundable_credits). Sources (Deductions, exemptions and credits): Kentucky DOR Announces 2026 Standard Deduction (checked 2026-10-12); 2026 Kentucky Withholding Tax Formula (42A003(TCF)(10-2025)) (checked 2026-10-12); 2025 Kentucky Individual Income Tax Forms (Form 740 instructions packet) (checked 2026-10-12); Kentucky Department of Revenue: Schedule ITC (2025).pdf (checked 2026-10-12); 2026 HHS poverty guidelines (checked 2026-10-12); 2025 Form 740 packet instructions (separate returns, family size credit) (checked 2026-10-12)

Rate schedule

A flat 3.5% on state taxable income.

Deductions, exemptions and credits

  • Standard deduction (or the exemption the engine carries in its place): $3,360 single, $3,360 married filing jointly, and the single amount for head of household.
  • Married filing separately: $3,360.

Age 65+ subtractions and credits

  • An additional nonrefundable credit of $40 per taxpayer at age 65 or older.

Social Security

Social Security benefits are fully exempt: none of the federally taxable amount enters the state base.

API value: socialSecurityRule: "exempt". The engine's input is the federally taxable amount; income tests use the sum of the income components as the adjusted-gross-income proxy.

IRA, 401(k) and private pensions

  • Pension, annuity and IRA/401(k) distributions: up to $31,110 excluded per taxpayer ($62,220 on a joint return) at any age.
  • Joint returns: the cap is per taxpayer. With the spouse's age given (couples), each spouse's own dollars are tested against that spouse's own age and cap; without it one household age applies and the $62,220 joint cap covers pooled income.

Source review notes (what the sources do not state outright, or what the engine does not carry):

Public pensions

No separate treatment: public pensions follow the rules for other retirement income above.

Source review notes (what the sources do not state outright, or what the engine does not carry):

Military retirement pay

  • No military-specific rule: military retirement pay is pension income under the general retirement rules above.
  • Rules are applied per taxpayer at that person's own age when the spouse's age is given. API value: rules.militaryRetirement.treatment: "taxable_as_pension".

Roth conversions

A conversion draws the retirement-income exclusion together with distributions at any age; the part above the cap is taxed as ordinary income.

Capital gains

  • Net long-term gain is taxed as ordinary income.
  • Short-term gains are ordinary income.

Source review notes (what the sources do not state outright, or what the engine does not carry):

Blindness and disability

  • A nonrefundable credit of $40 for each blind person.
  • The API applies these through its blind, disabled, spouse.blind and spouse.disabled fields; absent means false.

Part-year and nonresident returns

  • Part-year resident (Form 740-NP): the tax on the state's own income, nothing prorated.
  • Nonresident (Form 740-NP): the tax on the state's own income, nothing prorated.
  • Prorated on a part-year return: the per-person credits.
  • Prorated on a nonresident return: the per-person credits.
  • The standard deduction is not prorated ("do not prorate"); the personal tax credits × Kentucky AGI / federal AGI.
  • A nonresident's retirement income is not taxable by the state (4 U.S.C. §114); the API refuses it in residency.stateIncome. The credit for tax paid to another state and the earned income credits on these returns are not computed.

Married couples whose residency differs (engine 1.13.0)

With residency.spouse on a joint request, each allowed treatment is calculated and reported in residency.couple; tax is the required one, else the state's default, else the couple's residency.election, else the joint return the request's mfj names. Each rule is quoted from the state's instructions (engine 1.14.0: and its statutes, regulations, bulletins and other official guidance) in the sources below.

SpousesKentucky's rule
One spouse a full-year resident, the other a part-year residentseparate returns is required.
One spouse a full-year resident, the other a nonresidentseparate returns is required.
One spouse a part-year resident, the other a nonresidentseparate returns is required.
Both part-year residents, different resident periodsthe couple's choice: a joint part-year / nonresident return or separate returns; the joint return is not calculated: the joint 740-NP has one 'Moved into / out of Kentucky' line pair and no Kentucky source says how two different residency periods are reported on it.
Both nonresidents, only one with income from the statethe couple's choice: a joint part-year / nonresident return or separate returns.

Worked examples

Computed by the engine for the fixed households below (the same ones for every state, so states compare directly). Federal tax is not supplied, so a federal-tax deduction is not taken; the income tests use the sum of the components as income.

Household (engine inputs)State tax
Single, 67: $30,000 private pension, $20,000 IRA, $10,000 interest, $24,000 Social Security ($17,000 federally taxable), $5,000 long-term gain$1,028.55
Married filing jointly, 70: $40,000 public pension, $40,000 IRA, $20,000 interest, $40,000 Social Security ($34,000 federally taxable), $10,000 long-term gain$1,474.70
Single, 60: $60,000 other ordinary income and a $50,000 Roth conversion$2,643.55
Married filing jointly, 66: $30,000 IRA, a $40,000 Roth conversion, $30,000 Social Security ($25,500 federally taxable)$74.70
Single, 58: $36,000 military retirement pay and $30,000 wages$1,103.55
Married filing jointly, ages 67 and 61: $50,000 IRA, $10,000 interest, $30,000 Social Security ($25,500 federally taxable), each spouse's age given$192.40

Line by line

The intermediate lines the engine records while it computes each example (its detail record, printed as it comes out; lines that are zero are left out). The engine's documentation build checks that the lines add up to the taxable income and the tax, for every state, filing status and a grid of households. Each line links the engine step that produces it.

Single, 67: $30,000 private pension, $20,000 IRA, $10,000 interest, $24,000 Social Security ($17,000 federally taxable), $5,000 long-term gain: $1,028.55
Married filing jointly, 70: $40,000 public pension, $40,000 IRA, $20,000 interest, $40,000 Social Security ($34,000 federally taxable), $10,000 long-term gain: $1,474.70
Single, 60: $60,000 other ordinary income and a $50,000 Roth conversion: $2,643.55
Married filing jointly, 66: $30,000 IRA, a $40,000 Roth conversion, $30,000 Social Security ($25,500 federally taxable): $74.70
Single, 58: $36,000 military retirement pay and $30,000 wages: $1,103.55
Married filing jointly, ages 67 and 61: $50,000 IRA, $10,000 interest, $30,000 Social Security ($25,500 federally taxable), each spouse's age given: $192.40

After 2026: how the amounts move

A request with projection (API) estimates a later tax year from these rules: every dollar amount and age test below moves the way Kentucky's law moves it. Rates and the rules themselves stay the 2026 ones (how projection works).

Amounts (engine fields)After 2026What the law says, and the source
std_deduction_single, std_deduction_mfj, std_deduction_mfsIndexed: inflation adjustment under KRS 141.081 (CPI-based; statute text not read); not rounded (the statute states no rounding).The standard deduction is recalculated every year for inflation under KRS 141.081 ($3,360 for 2026, up $90). KRS 141.081 itself could not be read (the legislature's statute server was unreachable), so the exact index and rounding are not quoted.
  • Kentucky DOR Announces 2026 Standard Deduction (Sept 4, 2025) (Kentucky Department of Revenue, agency_page): 2026 amount and statutory basis. Quoted: "each year, the kentucky department of revenue calculates the individual standard deduction in accordance with krs 141.081. after adjusting for inflation, the standard deduction for 2026 is $3,360, an increase of $90". Checked 2026-10-12.
senior_credit_per, blind_creditFixed in law: held at the rules-year amount in every later year.The additional personal tax credits are a flat $40 for a taxpayer 65 or older and $40 if legally blind (KRS 141.020(3)); DOR's Schedule ITC shows the flat amount with no adjustment. Statute text not read.
  • Schedule ITC (2025) (Kentucky Department of Revenue, instructions): Credit amounts. Quoted: "if you were 65 on or before 12/31/2025, enter 40"; "if you were legally blind on 12/31/2025, enter 40". Checked 2026-10-12.
credit_senior_min_ageAttained age: the same age in every year.65 on or before December 31 of the tax year; fixed age.
  • Schedule ITC (2025) (Kentucky Department of Revenue, instructions): Age test. Quoted: "if you were 65 on or before 12/31/2025, enter 40". Checked 2026-10-12.
retirement_income_exclusion_single, retirement_income_exclusion_mfjFixed in law: held at the rules-year amount in every later year.Pension income exclusion is 100% of taxable retirement benefits up to $31,110 per taxpayer (KRS 141.019); flat amount in DOR instructions, unchanged since 2018. Statute text not read.
  • 2025 Kentucky Form 740 Instructions packet (Kentucky Department of Revenue, instructions): 2025 amount. Quoted: "the 2025 exclusion amount is 100 percent of taxable retirement benefits or $31,110, whichever is less". Checked 2026-10-12.
fsc_limitIndexed: HHS poverty guidelines (48 contiguous states), family sizes 1 to 4-or-more (KRS 141.066); not rounded (the statute states no rounding).The family size tax credit applies up to 133% of a threshold equal to the federal poverty level for family sizes one to four or more, so its income limits follow the annual HHS poverty guidelines (engine: 2026 guidelines, e.g. $15,960 for one person).
  • 2025 Kentucky Form 740 Instructions packet (Kentucky Department of Revenue, instructions): Threshold basis. Quoted: "this credit provides benefits to individuals and families at incomes up to 133 percent of the threshold amount based on the federal poverty level". Checked 2026-10-12.
  • HHS Poverty Guidelines (2026) (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (ASPE), federal): 2026 guidelines. Quoted: "2026 poverty guidelines for the 48 contiguous states and the district of columbia persons in family/household poverty guideline 1 $15,960 2 $21,640". Checked 2026-10-12.
cap_loss_limit, cap_loss_limit_mfsFixed in law: held at the rules-year amount in every later year.Kentucky starts from federal AGI, so the fixed IRC 1211(b) limit applies.
  • 26 U.S.C. 1211 (Limitation on capital losses) (Legal Information Institute (Cornell) - U.S. Code, federal): IRC 1211(b) limits a non-corporate capital loss against other income to $3,000 ($1,500 MFS), with no inflation adjustment. Quoted: "(1) $3,000 ($1,500 in the case of a married individual filing a separate return), or". Checked 2026-10-12.

Enacted for later years, not applied by the projection

None found: the research found no change enacted for years after 2026 beyond the schedules above.

What the engine does not calculate, and known approximations

What the engine does not calculate for any state (itemized deductions, credits beyond those listed, part-year residents, and more) is listed on the calculation order page.

Verification

Worksheet-tested A unit test pins the $31,110 exclusion drawn by a Roth conversion, following Schedule P.