These deductions have end dates written into them. That is not a prediction or a political forecast — it is what the statute says. Under current law the tips, overtime and senior deductions cover tax years 2025 through 2028, and the enlarged SALT cap gives way to $10,000 again in 2030.

Knowing the calendar changes some decisions and should not change others. This guide separates the two.

The calendar

Under current law

  1. Line 1Tips deduction — tax years2025–2028
  2. Line 2Overtime deduction — tax years2025–2028
  3. Line 3Senior deduction — tax years2025–2028
  4. Line 4SALT cap returns to $10,000 in2030

The 2028 tax year is filed in early 2029. So the last return carrying these three deductions is the one you file in spring 2029, and the first return without them is filed in spring 2030.

SALT runs on a different clock. Between now and 2029 the cap steps up each year — the statute sets the 2026 amount at $40,400 and provides for annual increases through 2029 — and then reverts. The reversion is a cliff, not a taper.

What "under current law" is doing in that sentence

A sunset date is a statement about the statute as it stands, not about what will happen. Temporary tax provisions are extended often enough that treating an expiry as certain is as wrong as treating it as impossible.

The honest position is that nobody writing today knows. What we can say is that no action is required from you for a provision to expire, and action by Congress is required for it to continue. That asymmetry is the only reliable thing about it.

What the calendar should change

  • Timing that is genuinely flexible. If you have real discretion over when income lands — a bonus, a sale, a distribution — the years when a deduction exists are better than the years when it does not. That is a normal consideration and worth taking.
  • Whether to bother claiming a small deduction. If the same paperwork applies for four years, the effort is amortised. If you are deciding whether to reconstruct records for one year, the answer may differ.
  • Multi-year projections. Any plan that runs past 2028 and assumes these deductions continue is assuming something the statute does not say. Model it both ways.

What it should not change

  • Where you live. Moving for a SALT cap that reverts in 2030 is a large, slow decision made for a small, fast reason.
  • Whether to take a job. The deduction is a fraction of the income, and the income lasts longer than the provision.
  • Whether to buy a house. The SALT cap affects the after-tax cost of property tax, and it is far down the list of things that decide whether a house purchase makes sense.
  • Retirement timing. The senior deduction is worth $6,000 of deduction per person before phase-out. Useful; not a reason to retire earlier or later.

The pattern is consistent: temporary provisions are worth optimising around at the margin and are a poor basis for structural decisions.

The child account is on its own timeline

The federal child savings account works differently from the deductions, because the account outlives the provision that created it. The $1,000 federal seed deposit is tied to children born in a defined window — 2025 through 2028 — but an account opened during that window continues afterwards, with contributions and withdrawal rules of its own.

So the deadline that matters there is about eligibility for the seed, not about the account disappearing. Our guide to the account's dates and limits covers the sequence.

Quick answers

  • Will these be extended? Unknown. Anyone telling you otherwise is guessing with more confidence than the facts support.
  • Does the expiry claw anything back? No. Deductions properly claimed for 2025 through 2028 stay claimed. Expiry means the provision stops applying to later years.
  • Does the SALT cap taper down to $10,000? No. It steps up through 2029 and then returns to $10,000. There is no glide path.
  • What about the phase-out thresholds? The tips, overtime and senior amounts are fixed dollar figures for their effective years rather than being inflation-adjusted, so rising incomes push more people into the phase-out over time.

For the years the deductions do exist, the Total Savings Estimator shows what they are worth to you now. That figure — repeated for the remaining years — is the honest size of the opportunity, and a better basis for planning than an assumption about what Congress will do next.