2016 state income tax rates adjusted for inflation 

SACRAMENTO – The Franchise Tax Board (FTB) published the 2016 state tax brackets, which are annually adjusted for inflation, on Sept. 7.

Brackets are “indexed” each year to reflect changes in the California Consumer Price Index (CPI), a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid for consumer goods and services.

Tax filing requirement thresholds, the standard deduction, and certain credits were adjusted along with income tax brackets based on the inflation rate of 2.1 percent, as measured by the California CPI for all urban consumers from June 2015 to June 2016. Last year,California had an inflation rate of 1.3 percent.

Below are some of the changes:

2016 Amounts2015 Amounts

Standard deduction for singleor married-filing-separate taxpayers$4,129$4,044

Standard deduction for joint,surviving spouse, or head-of-household taxpayers$8,258$8,088

Personal exemption creditfor single, separate, or head-of-household taxpayers$111$109

Personal exemption credit forjoint filers or surviving spouses$222$218

Dependent exemption credit$344$337

Renter's Credit available forsingle filers with adjusted grossincomes of......$39,062 or less$38,259 or less

Renter's Credit available forjoint filers with adjusted grossincomes of........$78,125 or less$76,518 or less

FTB also updated the minimum filing used to determine whether or not taxpayers must file a state tax return. For example, most single people under 65 years old with no dependents would not need to file a tax return until they have adjusted gross income of $13,278 or more in 2016. However, these individuals should still file if they are due a refund or may be eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit.

Other tax credits affected by indexing include the Joint Custody Head of Household Credit, Dependent Parent Credit, and Qualified Senior Head of Household Credit. The complete 2016 tax rates and exemptions are available on FTB’s website ftb.ca.gov.