National Standards for Food, Clothing and Other Items

Line 36 on Form 433-A is labeled "Food, Clothing and Misc." On Form 433-F it is box 1 in Section H. On both forms it is the one living expense the IRS will hand you in full, with no receipts, no bank statements and no questions. That is unusual for the IRS. Take it.

The 2026 figures

These are the monthly National Standards for Food, Clothing and Other Items from the IRS Collection Financial Standards effective June 29, 2026:

If your household is larger than five, pull the current figure for your household size from the Collection Financial Standards page on irs.gov.

What the allowance covers

IRM 5.15.1.9 breaks the standard into five categories:

• Apparel and services: shoes and clothing, laundry and dry cleaning, and shoe repair.
• Food: "all meals, home and away."
• Housekeeping supplies: laundry and cleaning supplies, paper products, lawn and garden supplies, postage and stationery, and other household supplies.
• Personal care products and services: hair care, haircuts, oral hygiene, shaving needs, cosmetics, and similar items, plus personal care appliances and their repair.
• Miscellaneous: a percentage of the other categories, based on BLS data, for living expenses not covered elsewhere.

The five are combined into one total. IRM 5.15.1.8 says the standards come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey.

The miscellaneous allowance is doing more work than you think

Miscellaneous is the catch-all. IRM 5.15.1.9 gives examples: "credit card payments, occupational expenses, bank fees and charges, reading material, school books and supplies for elementary through high school age dependents." It adds that the miscellaneous allowance "can also be used for any portion of expenses that exceed the ALE standards and are not allowed under a deviation."

This matters when the IRS disallows something. If your credit card minimum payment is not allowed as a separate expense, the IRM tells employees to advise you that the National Standards include a miscellaneous amount that can be applied to it. The same is true for the part of a delinquent state tax payment the IRS will not allow on top. More on that in credit cards, student loans and unsecured debt.

Allowed without questioning

IRM 5.15.1.9: "Allow taxpayers the national standard amount for their family size without questioning the amount actually spent." IRM 5.15.1.4 adds that a taxpayer "is not required to substantiate expenses that are categorized as National Standards unless they exceed the Standard."

So if you are frugal, you still get the full amount. A single person who spends $500 a month on everything in these categories is allowed $867. That spread can be the difference between a hardship finding and a payment demand.

On Form 433-F, the instructions say that if you do not spend more than the standard for your family size, fill in the total only. Do not waste time itemizing a number the IRS will give you anyway.

Claiming more than the standard

You can. You have to prove it. IRM 5.15.1.9 says a taxpayer who claims more than the total "must provide documentation to substantiate and justify as necessary those expenses that exceed the total national standard amounts."

The IRM gives a food example: a higher food expense justified "based on prescribed or required dietary needs." Medically required diets, feeding tubes and specialty formula, and similar costs are the strongest cases. Wanting organic produce is not.

There is a useful rule here. You only substantiate the category that runs over. IRM 5.15.1.4: "If a taxpayer claims more than the total allowable amount for the five categories of National Standards for Food, Clothing and Other Items, the taxpayer is only required to substantiate expenses for the categories that exceed the standards." The other categories are allowed at standard without proof.

One category can never go higher. IRM 5.15.1.9 says "Deviations from the standard amount are not allowed for miscellaneous expenses." And all deviations "must be verified, reasonable and documented in the case history."

Household size is the lever

The allowance jumps by household size. Going from one person to two adds $691 a month under the June 29, 2026 figures. That is why household size is one of the first things a careful revenue officer checks.

IRM 5.15.1.8 says the number of persons should generally match the taxpayers and dependents claimed on the current year tax return, with reasonable exceptions, such as foster children or children whose adoption is pending, fully documented.

What about a non-liable partner or a roommate who lives with you? That is a shared expense question, not a household size question, and IRM 5.15.1.5 handles it with a percentage allocation. Under that method, for the National Standards the liable taxpayer is allowed the greater of their percentage share of the household standard or the standard for one person. I work through the math in shared household expenses.

A worked example

A married couple in Hillsborough County with two children files jointly and owes the IRS from a failed business. Their real monthly spending on food, clothing, supplies and personal care is about $1,900. Under the June 29, 2026 standards, a four-person household is allowed $2,176. They do not have to prove the $1,900. The IRS allows $2,176.

Now change one fact. One child has a documented medical condition requiring a prescribed diet, and the family's real food spending is $2,600. They can claim the higher amount, but they will need to document the food category, with something like a physician's statement and receipts. The other four categories are still allowed at standard without proof.

How the numbers move year to year

The National Standards are not frozen. IRM 5.15.1.8 says the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index "is used to adjust all ALE standards." When the IRS publishes new figures, an analysis done the week before and the week after can produce different results for the same family.

That has two practical consequences. First, if your financial statement was analyzed under older figures and the standards have since gone up, ask for the current numbers to be applied. Second, if your case is borderline, check the effective date of the table the employee is using. The figures on this page carry an effective date of June 29, 2026, which matches the current revision date of the Financial Analysis Handbook itself.

Where people go wrong

• Listing grocery receipts line by line when they are under the standard. It wastes time and invites questions.
• Putting credit card payments on a separate line and expecting them to be allowed in full. They usually come out of miscellaneous.
• Claiming a household of five on the financial statement and three on the tax return.
• Assuming restaurant meals are excluded. Food means "all meals, home and away," inside the single allowance.

Why this line rarely needs a fight

In most hardship cases I handle, the National Standard is not where the dispute is. It is allowed in full, it requires no proof, and collection employees apply it the same way every time. The fights happen over housing, transportation, medical costs, and assets.

So spend your energy where it counts. Get this line right once, using the correct household size and the current table, and move on to the expenses that actually need documentation.

The National Standard is the floor the IRS builds your budget on. It is generous to people who live lean and limiting to people who do not. Either way, it is the number. Plan around it.