mommyoffive Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 Which one do you do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wendy not in HI Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 I work through the questions on Turbo Tax as if I were going to itemize, then I let the program tell me which one makes sense for this year. When we owned a home, itemizing was the way to go, last year (renting, no other strange things) we went with the standard deduction. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 I itemize because my state & city taxes are big enough to make a difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teachermom2834 Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 Standard. We don't have enough deductions to itemize. Our mortgage is small, no state income taxes, etc. When we had our first home we paid more in mortgage interest and we did itemize then but not anymore. But I plug everything into TurboTax and let them figure it out. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 Itemized. It is higher for us than the standard deduction because of mortgage interest and property tax. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjzimmer1 Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 itemized, between the mortgage, property taxes and charitable giving, we are well over the standard deduction. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 If Itemizing your deductions exceeds the Standard Deduction, Itemize, to save some money. The only drawback I see to that, other than the additional time one needs to gather the information, is that it probably increases, slightly, the possibility of getting audited. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butter Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 We itemize because that is more than the standard deduction. If personal exemptions go away and the standard deduction is increased we will use the standard deduction because it will be more than our itemized deductions (though less than our itemized + personal exemptions is currently). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 I check the itemization, but we don't ever have enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zinnia Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 Standard deduction. When we owned a house, we always itemized. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyStoner Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 Standard deduction. When we owned a house, we always itemized. Same. For the average person, unless they have a hefty amount of mortgage interest, it is usually more advantageous to take the standard deduction. Looking ahead, if Trump's tax plan passes more or less as he wants it, it will be more likely that the standard deduction will be best for married homeowners (as the standard deduction for them will increase) but there may be single parent or those using head of household filing status who will go from being better off with the standard deduction to itemizing as the standard deduction for such families will drop to the single rate. So be sure to check each year depending on changes to the tax code and your situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Granny_Weatherwax Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 Standard Deduction the last two years. Even with owning a house, the taxes and interest aren't enough to itemize. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy in NH Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 We don't have a high enough income to pay enough mortgage interest and taxes to make it worthwhile to itemize. Standard deduction is higher for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
historically accurate Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 We do standard as we live in a paid off mobile home, so no property taxes (we rent the lot) and no mortgage interest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hjffkj Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 Standard. Only time we itemized was the year I had high medical expenses. Our mortgage is too small to need to itemize 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarbecueMom Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 FYI: If you're on the line between itemizing and taking the standard deduction, run it both ways through federal AND state before filing. That is if you are in an income tax state, and one that requires you to itemize both, not just state. Now off to print a federal Schedule A and redo this thing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Girls' Mom Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 I've only itemized once, and that was the year that dh was in school, AND we had some major medical expenses. Otherwise we don't don't have enough deductions to itemize. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 We have always itemized, we have enough interest and charitable donations to qualify. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 (edited) Depends on the year, sometimes itemizing comes out ahead and sometimes standard deduction does. Our highest itemized category is charitable contributions. Edited January 27, 2017 by maize 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawyer&Mom Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 We always itemize. In a high COL state mortgage interest will get you there. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 We always itemize. In a high COL state mortgage interest will get you there.Property tax already got my family halfway there. FYI: If you're on the line between itemizing and taking the standard deduction, run it both ways through federal AND state before filing. That is if you are in an income tax state, and one that requires you to itemize both, not just state.We even itemize the tax deductible portion of vehicle license fee which is just $13 (tax deductible portion) for our old car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 Itemized. It is higher for us than the standard deduction because of mortgage interest and property tax. Ditto plus state income taxes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 If Itemizing your deductions exceeds the Standard Deduction, Itemize, to save some money. The only drawback I see to that, other than the additional time one needs to gather the information, is that it probably increases, slightly, the possibility of getting audited. If a family has W2 income only, the chances of being audited are low. Most audits focus on self-employed individuals. My dad never got audited until he started working for himself and then he started getting audited more often than not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lllll Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 (edited) nm Edited February 4, 2017 by .qp_ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tess in the Burbs Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 Used to itemize, but last few years standard deduction was better for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettyandbob Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 I used to itemize through turbo tax. We had huge medical expenses for several years. We do standard now. Medical expenses went down, which is good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted January 29, 2017 Share Posted January 29, 2017 Ditto plus state income taxes.I agree.Turbotax tabulated the itemized deductions for me and auto-populated the state tax until I forgot the state tax counts too because I don't need to do that data entry. Our state tax amount is by itself higher than the standard deduction for filing jointly which means we would be doing itemized deductions even after our mortgage interest becomes negligible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizzie in Ma Posted January 30, 2017 Share Posted January 30, 2017 Whichever is the higher deduction for that tax year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted January 30, 2017 Share Posted January 30, 2017 (edited) We always itemize. In a high COL state mortgage interest will get you there.This is where I find our tax laws profoundly unfair. Incentivising home ownership sounds well and good, but in very high housing cost area many, many people can never afford to buy a home. They end up paying through the nose for rent but get none of the tax advantages of ownership. Those go instead to the landlords. People who already have more money get rewarded. I think renters should be able to deduct the portion of their rent that goes to pay property taxes. Edited January 30, 2017 by maize Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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