Updated October 2, 2026. Quick answer: every applicable federal rate the IRS has published for 2026, month by month, each read from the revenue ruling that set it. October 2026 is the current month at 4.25% short-term, 4.61% mid-term and 5.22% long-term, annual compounding, from Rev. Rul. 2026-19; September 2026 (4.18%, 4.49% and 5.12%, Rev. Rul. 2026-17) is now the prior month. The IRS index page that lists these rulings is currently missing two of the 10 months and misdates a third, which is why this table is built from the rulings and not from the index.
The next rates, before the IRS publishes them: the January 2027 AFR rates when the IRS publishes them and the 2027 AFR rates as the IRS publishes them.
Writing the loan down? State by state, the interest limit and the time limit to sue on a private promissory note: promissory note by state.
The next two months: the November 2026 AFR rates, now published, and the December 2026 AFR rates when the IRS publishes them.
The 7520 rates by month, last year’s AFRs and August’s full table: the section 7520 rate by month, the 2025 AFR table and the August 2026 AFR rates.
The months after January, before the IRS publishes them: the February 2027 AFR rates when the IRS publishes them, the March 2027 AFR rates when the IRS publishes them, the April 2027 AFR rates when the IRS publishes them, the May 2027 AFR rates when the IRS publishes them and the June 2027 AFR rates when the IRS publishes them.
September 2026 and October 2026 (the two most recent months) each have their own page with the full annual, semiannual, quarterly and monthly table and the section 7520 rate: September 2026 in full and October 2026 in full. Every 2026 month, plus the 120% mid-term rate, is also gathered in one table at AFR rates 2026.
Every 2026 month, annual and semiannual
Annual compounding is the column most people mean by “the AFR”. Semiannual is the column section 7872(f)(2) names for a family loan. Both are here because they answer different questions and they are the same rate.
| Month | Ruling | Short-term annual / semiannual | Mid-term annual / semiannual | Long-term annual / semiannual |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | Rev. Rul. 2026-2 | 3.63% / 3.60% | 3.81% / 3.77% | 4.63% / 4.58% |
| February | Rev. Rul. 2026-3 | 3.56% / 3.53% | 3.86% / 3.82% | 4.70% / 4.65% |
| March | Rev. Rul. 2026-6 | 3.59% / 3.56% | 3.93% / 3.89% | 4.72% / 4.67% |
| April | Rev. Rul. 2026-7 | 3.59% / 3.56% | 3.82% / 3.78% | 4.62% / 4.57% |
| May | Rev. Rul. 2026-9 | 3.82% / 3.78% | 4.08% / 4.04% | 4.83% / 4.77% |
| June | Rev. Rul. 2026-11 | 3.85% / 3.81% | 4.13% / 4.09% | 4.87% / 4.81% |
| July | Rev. Rul. 2026-12 | 4.00% / 3.96% | 4.35% / 4.30% | 4.98% / 4.92% |
| August | Rev. Rul. 2026-13 | 4.10% / 4.06% | 4.35% / 4.30% | 4.92% / 4.86% |
| September | Rev. Rul. 2026-17 | 4.18% / 4.14% | 4.49% / 4.44% | 5.12% / 5.06% |
| October | Rev. Rul. 2026-19 | 4.25% / 4.21% | 4.61% / 4.56% | 5.22% / 5.15% |
Every cell is Table 1 of the ruling in the same row, read from the PDF the IRS published; the ruling number links to it. The rulings also carry adjusted AFRs, the section 382 rates, the low-income housing percentages and the section 7520 rate, none of which are reproduced here.
The IRS index is missing two of these months and misdates a third
The natural thing to tell a reader is to go to the IRS index page and read the newest ruling. We checked what that index actually served on August 25, 2026, and it does not support that advice:
- Rev. Rul. 2026-17, the September 2026 rates, is not listed at all. It is published and live at https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rr-26-17.pdf; the index’s newest row is Rev. Rul. 2026-13, the August 2026 rates. A reader following the index in September 2026 gets last month’s figures.
- Rev. Rul. 2026-11 is listed as May 2026. The ruling itself says June 2026, in its opening sentence and again in its Table 1 heading.
- Rev. Rul. 2026-9, the May 2026 rates, is not listed either — its row appears to have been taken by the misdated one.
That is not a reason to distrust the IRS figures, which are the figures. It is a reason not to rely on a list of them, including this one: the rate you need is in a numbered ruling, and the ruling is what governs. Every row above links to its own.
The publication rhythm is statutory, not editorial — “During each calendar month, the Secretary shall determine the Federal short-term rate, mid-term rate, and long-term rate which shall apply during the following calendar month.” (26 U.S.C. § 1274(d)(1)(B)). The rate for a month is determined in the month before it, which is why the following month’s ruling is normally out well before the month starts.
Which of the three you need
Section 1274(d)(1)(A) sets it by the term of the instrument: not over 3 years takes the federal short-term rate, over 3 but not over 9 the mid-term rate, over 9 the long-term rate. The short-term rate is anchored to real Treasury yields — “The Federal short-term rate shall be the rate determined by the Secretary based on the average market yield (during any 1-month period selected by the Secretary and ending in the calendar month in which the determination is made) on outstanding marketable obligations of the United States with remaining periods to maturity of 3 years or less.” (26 U.S.C. § 1274(d)(1)(C)(i)), and the mid- and long-term rates follow the same principles.
A demand loan ignores that table. Section 7872(f)(2)(B) sends every demand loan to the short-term rate whatever its actual life, and redetermines it for each period. In October 2026 that is 4.21% semiannual rather than the 5.15% a ten-year term note would carry. The calculator applies both rules and prices the difference.
What 2026 has done so far
Across the ten months published so far, the short-term rate has run from 3.56% in February 2026 to 4.25% in October 2026, and the long-term rate from 4.62% in April 2026 to 5.22% in October 2026, annual compounding. On $100,000 lent interest-free on a demand note, the gap between the year’s low and its high short-term rate is $690 of forgone interest in a year — which is the practical argument for looking up the month rather than reusing a figure you saw earlier in the year.
Document a family loan
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A sale or exchange can reach back three months
This one is easy to miss because it lives in section 1274 rather than 7872, and it only applies to a sale or exchange — selling the house to your child on a note, not lending them the money to buy someone else’s.
In the case of any sale or exchange, the applicable Federal rate shall be the lowest 3-month rate.
26 U.S.C. § 1274(d)(2)(A)
For purposes of subparagraph (A), the term “lowest 3-month rate” means the lowest of the applicable Federal rates in effect for any month in the 3-calendar-month period ending with the 1st calendar month in which there is a binding contract in writing for such sale or exchange.
26 U.S.C. § 1274(d)(2)(B)
So the month of the binding written contract opens a three-month window and you take the lowest rate in it. For a contract signed in September 2026, the window is July, August and September, and the lowest figures in it are:
| Tier | Lowest of the three months | Which month | September alone | Saving |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Short-term | 3.96% | July 2026 | 4.14% | 0.18 points lower |
| Mid-term | 4.30% | July 2026 | 4.44% | 0.14 points lower |
| Long-term | 4.86% | August 2026 | 5.06% | 0.20 points lower |
Semiannual compounding, from the three rulings above. A plain loan has no such window — it takes the rate for the month the loan is made and that is the end of it. The recorded, secured version of a family house purchase is here.
What this page does not carry
It carries 2026 only. Earlier years are in the same series of rulings and are not reproduced here; we do not publish a figure we have not read at source this month.
It carries the plain AFRs from Table 1. The 110%, 120%, 130%, 150% and 175% rows that also appear in Table 1, and the adjusted AFRs in Table 2, the section 382 rates in Table 3, the housing-credit percentages in Table 4 and the section 7520 rate in Table 5 are all in the linked rulings and none of them are here.
The index defects above are what the IRS page served on August 25, 2026. They may be corrected at any time, and a correction would not change any rate.
Sources
- Rev. Rul. 2026-2, Table 1 (January 2026) — https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rr-26-02.pdf
- Rev. Rul. 2026-3, Table 1 (February 2026) — https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rr-26-03.pdf
- Rev. Rul. 2026-6, Table 1 (March 2026) — https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rr-26-06.pdf
- Rev. Rul. 2026-7, Table 1 (April 2026) — https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rr-26-07.pdf
- Rev. Rul. 2026-9, Table 1 (May 2026) — https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rr-26-09.pdf
- Rev. Rul. 2026-11, Table 1 (June 2026) — https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rr-26-11.pdf
- Rev. Rul. 2026-12, Table 1 (July 2026) — https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rr-26-12.pdf
- Rev. Rul. 2026-13, Table 1 (August 2026) — https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rr-26-13.pdf
- Rev. Rul. 2026-17, Table 1 (September 2026) — https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rr-26-17.pdf
- 26 U.S.C. § 1274 — uscode.house.gov
- 26 U.S.C. § 7872 — uscode.house.gov
- IRS, Applicable Federal Rates index, as served August 25, 2026 — https://www.irs.gov/applicable-federal-rates
Related: How the minimum interest rule works · Lending money to family: the whole picture · Where the line between a loan and a gift falls · The $100,000 exception · Forgiving a family loan · The intra-family mortgage · A family loan in your estate · Gift letter vs family loan · Lending to aging parents · Applicable federal rate calculator.
Figures verified against Rev. Rul. 2026-2 through Rev. Rul. 2026-19 on the IRS website on September 29, 2026.
General information drawn from the Internal Revenue Code and the IRS revenue rulings named above, not legal, tax or financial advice. Applicable federal rates change every month, so every rate here is labelled with the month it applies to and the ruling that set it; check the ruling before you rely on a figure, including one of ours. We are not a law firm or a tax adviser.