Barbers are squarely inside the 2025 tip deduction: barbering appears on the Treasury list of customarily tipped occupations, so tips you reported — on a W-2, through the shop's POS, or on your own books as a booth renter — are deductible up to $25,000 per return. It works even if you take the standard deduction, and it runs through 2028.
The split that matters for barbers is employee versus booth renter. A W-2 barber deducts the reported tips on their wage statement. A booth renter is self-employed: card tips run through the shop's system and land on a 1099-K, cash tips go on your own records, and the deduction is capped at the net income of that business. Either way, only reported tips count — unreported cash was never taxed, so there is nothing to deduct.
The deduction reduces federal income tax only; self-employment tax on your net earnings is unaffected. It phases out above $150,000 of income ($300,000 joint). If your 2025 return didn't capture the tips — common for booth renters whose software treated all 1099-K income as untipped receipts — a Form 1040-X recovers it.