The numbers to memorize for the 2026 EA exam are the 2025 tax-year figures, because the current testing window covers tax law in effect through December 31, 2025. Start with the post-OBBBA standard deductions ($15,750 single, $31,500 joint, $23,625 head of household), the 2025 contribution limits, and the fixed day and year deadlines tested in Part 3.
Dollar limits cost points when your notes mix two versions of the same tax year. This guide from VantageEA, an Enrolled Agent (EA) exam practice platform, sorts the figures by exam part and flags the ones that changed partway through 2025.
Which tax year do the 2026 EA exam numbers come from?
The Special Enrollment Examination (SEE) window that runs July 1, 2026 to February 28, 2027 tests federal tax law in effect through December 31, 2025, so every inflation-adjusted figure you study should be the 2025 amount. The catch is that 2025 had two sets of numbers.
The IRS published its original 2025 inflation adjustments in October 2024. Then the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), signed on July 4, 2025 and now described by the IRS as the Working Families Tax Cuts, raised several of those amounts for the same year. Here is how the main figures moved:
| 2025 figure | Original amount | Amount after OBBBA |
|---|---|---|
| Standard deduction, single or married filing separately | $15,000 | $15,750 |
| Standard deduction, married filing jointly | $30,000 | $31,500 |
| Standard deduction, head of household | $22,500 | $23,625 |
| Child Tax Credit per qualifying child | $2,000 | $2,200 |
| State and local tax (SALT) deduction cap | $10,000 | $40,000 |
| Section 179 expensing limit | $1,250,000 | $2,500,000 |
The IRS release on tax year 2025 inflation adjustments shows the original amounts, and the IRS summary of the 2025 law for individuals and workers lists the revised standard deductions. Read the guide to OBBBA changes on the EA exam for the wider law. Any 2025 figure from a source written before July 2025 needs a second look.
How do you decide which numbers are worth memorizing?
Memorize the numbers that can change an answer on their own: a cap, a floor, an age, or a deadline. For a phase-out range, learn where it begins first, since that tells you whether the benefit is reduced at all.
It also helps to sort each figure by how often it changes:
- Fixed by statute: amounts that never move with inflation, such as the $250,000 and $500,000 home sale exclusion and the $3,000 capital loss limit. Learn these once.
- Indexed every year: standard deductions, contribution limits, and the gift tax exclusion. Learn only the 2025 amount.
- Set by procedure: the days and years in Part 3, such as the 90-day window to petition the Tax Court.
The week-by-week EA exam study schedule leaves room in each block for this kind of short review. Learn fixed numbers once and review indexed numbers every week.
Which Part 1 filing and deduction numbers should you know?
Part 1 (Individuals) carries the most dollar figures. These are the 2025 amounts from IRS Revenue Procedure 2024-40, updated for the 2025 law:
| Item | 2025 amount |
|---|---|
| Standard deduction, single or married filing separately | $15,750 |
| Standard deduction, married filing jointly or qualifying surviving spouse | $31,500 |
| Standard deduction, head of household | $23,625 |
| Additional standard deduction for age 65 or blind (each) | $1,600 if married, $2,000 if unmarried |
| Deduction for seniors age 65 and older (2025 to 2028) | $6,000 per person, phased out above $75,000 of MAGI ($150,000 joint) |
| Standard deduction for a dependent | Greater of $1,350 or earned income plus $450, up to the regular amount |
| Qualifying relative gross income test | Less than $5,200 |
| Kiddie tax applies to a child's unearned income above | $2,700 |
The $6,000 senior deduction is separate from the additional standard deduction for age 65, and a taxpayer who itemizes can still claim it. A married taxpayer must file jointly to take it. The filing requirements and deadlines topic drills the thresholds that decide who must file. For 2025, a single filer's standard deduction is $15,750, and $15,000 is the older figure.
Which credits and new deductions have dollar limits on Part 1?
Each credit and each deduction added for 2025 comes with a cap and an income level where the benefit starts to shrink. The table lists both:
| Benefit | 2025 limit | Reduction starts above |
|---|---|---|
| Child Tax Credit | $2,200 per child ($1,700 refundable) | $200,000 ($400,000 joint) |
| Earned income credit, three or more children | $8,046 maximum | Not allowed if investment income exceeds $11,950 |
| Deduction for qualified tips | $25,000 | $150,000 of MAGI ($300,000 joint) |
| Deduction for qualified overtime | $12,500 ($25,000 joint) | $150,000 of MAGI ($300,000 joint) |
| Deduction for car loan interest | $10,000 | $100,000 of MAGI ($200,000 joint) |
| SALT itemized deduction | $40,000 ($20,000 married filing separately) | $500,000 of MAGI ($250,000 separately), never below $10,000 ($5,000 separately) |
The overtime deduction covers only the premium portion of overtime pay (the extra half in time-and-a-half), and the tips, overtime, car loan, and senior deductions reduce taxable income without lowering adjusted gross income. For itemizers, medical expenses count only above 7.5% of AGI. The SALT and mortgage interest topic works through the cap and its income reduction. Each of these benefits gives you two numbers to learn: the cap and the point where it starts to phase out.
Which retirement, gift, and investment limits show up on Part 1?
Retirement and gift limits are indexed every year, so they are the figures most likely to be wrong in older notes. According to the IRS announcement of 2025 retirement plan limits, the core amounts are these:
- IRA contributions: $7,000, plus $1,000 at age 50 or older.
- Roth IRA eligibility: phases out from $150,000 to $165,000 for single filers and from $236,000 to $246,000 for joint filers.
- 401(k) deferrals: $23,500, plus a $7,500 catch-up at age 50, or $11,250 for ages 60 to 63.
- HSA contributions: $4,300 for self-only coverage and $8,550 for family coverage, plus $1,000 at age 55.
- Gift and estate tax: a $19,000 annual exclusion per recipient and a $13,990,000 basic exclusion for people who died in 2025.
- Investment income: a 0% long-term capital gain rate up to $48,350 of taxable income for single filers ($96,700 joint), and the 3.8% net investment income tax above $200,000 of MAGI ($250,000 joint).
The guide to gift vs inherited property basis shows where the $19,000 exclusion meets the basis rules. The net investment income tax thresholds are not indexed for inflation, so $200,000 and $250,000 have not changed since the tax began in 2013.
What Part 2 business numbers should you memorize?
Part 2 (Businesses) has fewer indexed figures, but the big ones changed in 2025. According to the IRS summary of the 2025 law's business provisions, for tax years beginning after December 31, 2024, the Section 179 limit is $2,500,000, reduced dollar for dollar once the cost of qualifying property placed in service exceeds $4,000,000. Bonus depreciation returned to 100% for property acquired after January 19, 2025.
- Social Security wage base: $176,100 for 2025. Self-employment tax is 15.3% of 92.35% of net earnings, and the 12.4% Social Security portion stops at the wage base.
- Qualified business income deduction: 20% of qualified business income, with the wage and property limits starting above $197,300 of taxable income ($394,600 joint).
- Retirement plans for business owners: SEP contributions up to 25% of compensation, capped at $70,000, and SIMPLE IRA deferrals up to $16,500.
- Business standard mileage rate: 70 cents a mile for 2025.
Recapture adds one more number, the five-year lookback for net Section 1231 losses, which the Section 1231, 1245, and 1250 recapture guide walks through with examples. For bonus depreciation, the acquisition date decides the rate, so learn January 19, 2025 along with the 100% figure.
What Part 3 deadlines and time limits should you memorize?
Part 3 (Representation, Practices and Procedures) numbers are mostly days and years set by statute or regulation, and they do not change with inflation.
| Rule | Time limit |
|---|---|
| Assessment statute of limitations | 3 years after filing (an early return counts as filed on the due date) |
| More than 25% of gross income omitted | 6 years |
| Fraudulent return or no return filed | No time limit |
| Collection statute | 10 years from assessment |
| Refund claim | Later of 3 years from filing or 2 years from payment |
| Tax Court petition after a notice of deficiency | 90 days (150 days if addressed outside the US) |
| Enrolled agent continuing education | 72 hours every 3 years, at least 16 a year including 2 of ethics |
Treasury Department Circular 230 sets the continuing education rule and the standards of practice that Part 3 tests. Penalty rates belong on the same sheet: 5% a month for failure to file and 0.5% a month for failure to pay, each capped at 25%, plus 20% for accuracy-related penalties and 75% for civil fraud. The statute of limitations topic drills the assessment rules. In Part 3, the usual trap is the date the clock starts, so learn what starts each period along with its length.
How can you memorize EA exam numbers without cramming?
Keep one page per exam part and test yourself from memory for ten minutes a day.
- Attach each figure to a question: next to $150,000, write "Can a single filer with $160,000 of MAGI take the full tips deduction?" The answer is no, because the deduction shrinks above $150,000.
- Learn single and joint amounts as pairs: many joint figures are double the single amount, so the exceptions are the ones to flag.
- Feed misses back into the sheet: after each practice set, add any figure you got wrong.
- Rewrite the sheet weekly from memory: drop items you have recalled correctly three weeks in a row.
This table shows where the doubling pattern holds and where it breaks:
| Figure | Single | Married filing jointly | Joint is double? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard deduction | $15,750 | $31,500 | Yes |
| Home sale exclusion | $250,000 | $500,000 | Yes |
| Child Tax Credit reduction threshold | $200,000 | $400,000 | Yes |
| SALT deduction cap | $40,000 | $40,000 | No ($20,000 if married filing separately) |
| Net investment income tax threshold | $200,000 | $250,000 | No |
| Capital loss limit | $3,000 | $3,000 | No ($1,500 if married filing separately) |
VantageEA EA mock tests report your number correct out of 100, with 70 correct as the pass mark, plus an estimated PSI score range, so you can see whether number-based misses are pulling your score down. Start with a free EA practice test. The figures that break the doubling pattern deserve a second look on every pass through your sheet.
Which number traps cost candidates the most points?
Part 1 had the lowest pass rate of the three parts, 58% in the 2024-2025 testing year, according to figures compiled from Prometric score data (the IRS does not publish official pass rates). Number errors tend to follow a few patterns:
- Using the wrong year: 2026 amounts, such as the $16,100 single standard deduction, apply to 2026 returns.
- Mixing the two 2025 versions: a $30,000 joint standard deduction or a $10,000 SALT cap is the pre-OBBBA figure for 2025.
- Assuming every joint figure doubles: the net investment income tax threshold is $250,000 for joint filers and $200,000 for single filers.
- Treating a deduction as a credit: the $2,200 Child Tax Credit reduces tax, while the $6,000 senior deduction reduces taxable income.
- Starting the clock on the wrong date: the 3-year refund rule runs from the date the return was filed, while the 2-year rule runs from the date the tax was paid.
Each part of the SEE has 100 questions (85 scored and 15 experimental) in 3.5 hours, scored on a 200 to 800 scale with 500 needed to pass, and the fee is $317 per part. The breakdown of how hard each EA exam part is explains why Part 1 trails the other two.
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