2025 Form 1040, Line 24
Total Tax: Everything You Owe on Line 24
Line 24 of the 2025 Form 1040 is your total tax: the Line 16 income tax plus Schedule 2 additional taxes — self-employment tax, AMT, household employment taxes — minus the nonrefundable credits of §§21–25A claimed on Schedule 3.
Income tax plus Schedule 2
Start with Line 16, the tax on your taxable income. Then Schedule 2 stacks on the additional taxes: self-employment tax at 15.3% under §1401 (Social Security plus Medicare on net earnings), alternative minimum tax from Form 6251, household employment taxes from Schedule H, and the smaller add-ons like excess APTC repayment. Each has its own form and its own rules; Schedule 2 is just the meeting point.
Minus nonrefundable credits
Schedule 3, Part 1 collects the nonrefundable credits — §§21–25A, including the child and dependent care credit, education credits, and the retirement savings credit. They can cut your combined tax down to zero, but never below: any excess simply goes unused. Refundable credits come later and can take you past zero into refund territory. For the full sequence of tax, credits, and payments, see chapter 4 of the Guide.
Questions, answered
- What goes into total tax on Line 24?
- Line 16 income tax plus Schedule 2 additional taxes — self-employment tax, AMT, household employment taxes, and others — minus nonrefundable credits claimed on Schedule 3.
- What are nonrefundable credits?
- Credits under §§21–25A such as the child and dependent care credit, education credits, and the saver credit: they can reduce your tax to zero but never below it.
- Is Line 24 what I pay?
- Not yet — Line 24 is total tax before withholding and refundable credits. What you actually owe or get back is settled on Lines 33–37.
Keep reading: Tax Computation · Taxable Income · Refund or Owed