IRS Housing and Utilities Standards for Hillsborough County

When you owe the IRS more than you can pay right now, the IRS wants to know what you can pay each month. To figure that out, it does not simply accept your budget. It applies its own allowances, called the Collection Financial Standards. The biggest one for most Tampa families is housing and utilities.

The housing number is set by county. That makes it one of the few genuinely local numbers in federal tax collection. Here is what it is for Hillsborough County, what it covers, and how to work with it when it does not match your life.

The Hillsborough County numbers

The IRS Local Standard for housing and utilities in Hillsborough County, Florida, effective June 29, 2026, is:

These are monthly caps. They change when the IRS updates the standards, so always confirm the current table on irs.gov before you rely on a figure. If you are reading this after the next update, the structure will be the same even if the numbers are not.

What the allowance covers

The allowance is one combined number. Under IRM 5.15.1.10.1, housing expenses include mortgage (including interest) or rent, property taxes, insurance, maintenance and repairs, and homeowner or condominium association dues. Utilities include gas, electricity, water, heating oil, bottled gas, trash collection, and also cable, internet and telephone service.

That is a lot of bills under one cap. In Tampa, the pieces that blow the budget are predictable. Homeowners insurance has become a major expense for many Florida homeowners. Condo owners have association dues and sometimes special assessments. Summer electric bills are not small. All of it comes out of the same allowance.

How the IRS applies the standard

The rule is in IRM 5.15.1.8: taxpayers will normally be allowed the local standard or the amount actually paid monthly, whichever is less. If your actual housing and utilities total $2,300 and you are a household of four, the IRS allows $2,300, not $2,861. If your actual cost is $3,400, the IRS starts at $2,861.

Household size generally follows your tax return. IRM 5.15.1.8 says the number of persons allowed should generally match the taxpayers and dependents claimed on the current return, with documented exceptions for situations like foster children.

The housing standard is a Local Standard. The IRS also uses National Standards for food, clothing, personal care and similar items, and transportation standards for vehicle costs. Those are separate allowances.

When the standard is not enough

In Hillsborough County, plenty of families pay more for housing than the standard allows. The IRM gives you a path, but you have to walk it with paper.

IRM 5.15.1.8 says that if a standard amount is inadequate to provide for a specific taxpayer’s basic living expenses, a deviation is allowed, and the employee must require reasonable substantiation and document the case file. The practical questions are whether your housing is reasonable for your household and whether there is a realistic cheaper alternative.

Arguments that tend to carry weight:

• Insurance and taxes you cannot control. Show the declarations page and the tax bill.
• Medical or disability needs that require a particular home or location.
• Cost of moving. If moving would cost more than it saves, that is a real point.
• Local rental market evidence. If comparable rentals in your part of Hillsborough County cost as much as you pay now, moving does not help the IRS.

Arguments that tend not to work: preference for a neighborhood, a home that is simply larger than the household needs, or expenses you cannot document.

When a spouse who does not owe lives in the house

Many Tampa households have one spouse who owes the IRS and one who does not. IRM 5.15.1.5 says a non-liable person’s income is generally not included in calculating what the taxpayer can pay, outside community property states. Florida is not a community property state.

But shared expenses get split. The IRS determines the taxpayer’s share of household income and applies that percentage to shared expenses like housing. If you earn 60 percent of the household income, the IRS generally credits you with 60 percent of the allowable housing cost. And if the non-liable spouse’s income cannot be provided or verified, IRM 5.15.1.5 says the taxpayer is generally allowed only the standards for one person plus allowable dependents. Getting the household income documented usually helps you.

Where this number shows up

The housing standard affects every collection alternative that depends on your ability to pay:

• Installment agreements. For larger balances that require financial information, the standards drive the monthly payment. See my guide to installment agreements in Hillsborough County.
• Currently not collectible status. If allowable expenses consume your income, the IRS may stop active collection. See currently not collectible status.
• Offers in compromise. Future income in an offer is monthly income minus allowable expenses, multiplied by a number of months. Every dollar of disallowed housing expense raises your required offer. Your home equity also counts on the asset side; see Florida home equity in an offer.

IRM 5.15.1 also refers to a six-year rule for some installment agreements, under which expenses above the standards may be allowed if the balance will be paid within six years. Whether that applies depends on the type of agreement and the size of the balance, as described in IRM 5.14.1.

A worked example

Take a hypothetical Brandon household: a married couple with two children, so four people on the return. Only the husband owes the IRS. He earns $6,000 a month and his wife earns $4,000, so he provides 60 percent of household income.

Their actual housing costs are a $2,450 mortgage payment including escrow for taxes and insurance, $120 in HOA dues, and about $480 a month in electric, water, internet and phone. That totals $3,050 a month.

The Hillsborough County standard for four persons is $2,861. Without a documented reason for a deviation, the IRS starts at $2,861 as the household’s allowable housing and utilities. Then it applies the husband’s 60 percent share, which credits him with about $1,717 a month toward housing in computing his ability to pay.

Notice what that means. The household is spending $189 a month more than the standard allows, and the husband’s calculated ability to pay goes up accordingly. Over the months used in an offer calculation, small monthly differences add up to real money. That is why it is worth the effort to document insurance, taxes and any special needs before the financial statement goes in, not after the IRS sends back its numbers.

This example is simplified. The IRS also applies the National Standards, transportation standards, health care allowances and other categories, and it may question whether the couple’s income figures are complete. But the housing piece works the way shown.

Practical steps

1. Total your real monthly housing and utilities, using statements, not memory.
2. Compare it to the Hillsborough County figure for your household size.
3. If you are over, decide whether you can justify the excess with documents.
4. If a non-liable spouse lives with you, gather his or her income documentation so the allocation is fair.
5. Prepare Form 433-A or 433-F accurately. These forms are signed under penalties of perjury.

GetIRSHelp.com has more on currently not collectible status, which is where these standards matter most for struggling households.

The IRS does not care what Tampa rent should cost. It cares what its table says. Your job is to make the table fit your life, with paper.