Form 1040

14 — Total Deductions Updated for tax year 2025

What this line means

The sum of your standard or itemized deduction (line 12e), qualified business income deduction (line 13a), and any additional deductions (line 13b). This total is subtracted from your AGI to arrive at taxable income on line 15. For most filers, this is simply the standard deduction amount.

Does this apply to you?

  • Every filer completes this line — it is a simple addition of lines 12e, 13a, and 13b
  • If you only have a standard deduction and no QBI or other deductions, this equals line 12e
  • If you are self-employed with QBI, this includes both your standard/itemized deduction and the 20% business income deduction

Easy to overlook

The QBI deduction stacks on top of the standard deduction Line 14 is the sum of two or three separate deductions. The QBI deduction on line 13a is added to your standard (or itemized) deduction. A self-employed filer can take the $15,750 standard deduction plus a $10,000 QBI deduction for a total of $25,750 on line 14. These are not either/or — you get both. 1 [SOURCE: General filing pattern — missing QBI deduction in total]

This is different from above-the-line adjustments The adjustments on line 10 (HSA, student loan interest, etc.) already reduced your income before you got to this section. The deductions on line 14 are a second layer of reduction. Filers sometimes confuse the two and think they already claimed their deductions when they only claimed their adjustments. 2 [SOURCE: IRS Form 1040 instructions — Line 14 computation]

Watch out for this

Simple addition errors when combining lines 12e, 13a, and 13b on paper returns. If line 13a or 13b is blank, it is zero — not the same as leaving it out of the addition. Tax software handles this perfectly, but paper filers occasionally miss a line in the sum.

  • Line 12e — Form 1040 — Standard or itemized deduction; the largest component for most filers
  • Line 13a — Form 1040 — QBI deduction; adds to the total if you have qualifying business income
  • Line 15 — Form 1040 — Taxable income; line 11b minus line 14

Footnotes

  1. IRS Form 1040 Instructions. See also IRS Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p17.pdf ↩

  2. IRS Form 1040 Instructions, Line 14. https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1040 ↩

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