I want to amend my taxes to see if taking standard deduction would be better for me but my husband is working on his form so Turbo Tax won't let me switch and see?

[SweetieJean]

Is there a reason you are not filing Joint?

[sclloyd]

Yes; student loans. But that is not relevant to my question.

[GinaG]

Hi there!  Watch for an email from us with a request for additional information

[xmasbaby0]

If you and your spouse are filing as married filing separately, you both have to file the same way.  Either you BOTH itemize or you BOTH use standard deduction--even if it is not to both of your advantage.  That is the tax law.

[sclloyd]

I know. I want to AMEND though, and because my spouse is working on his form it won't even let me amend. So how would be BOTH amend. (again, he hasn't filed yet, but TT won't even let me amend because he is working on it).

[xmasbaby0]

What?  You should have separate accounts and user ID's.  What he is doing with his return should not affect your ability to get to the return you filed for yourself.  With online TT, you get ONE return per fee.  If you and your spouse are using the same account and user ID, then he has just overwritten your return.

[sclloyd]

No, we are not using the same account. I filed mine as itemized. I want to amend it to standard because it looks like it will be better for me. He has not filed, but he is working on it online on his own account. I tried to amend my deduction and Turbo Tax gave me a message that I couldn't because my spouse filed itemized. He has not filed yet, so I don't know why I am getting that message, but even if he had and we both wanted to amend it, we wouldn't be able to because TT is giving this message and won't let me/us change it.

[xmasbaby0]

When he began his return he had to say whether he was itemizing or using standard deduction--since you are filing MFS and both have to file the same way.  So your returns have each other's SSN's on them--it makes you both file the same way.
You keep saying it will be "better for me"--what about your spouse?  Is standard deduction better for your spouse too?

[Zbucklyo]

This makes no sense to me.  Your actions should be independent of what your husband is doing, and Turbotax absolutely should not be linking your returns by SSN.  I will report this to moderators to see if I can get clarity.

[xmasbaby0]

@Zbucklyo It is not making a lot of sense to me either.  I know they have to state somewhere how the other spouse is filing.

[VolvoGirl]

Have you already filed your original return?  And it was Accepted?

[Zbucklyo]

I know, but that is not her question.  She is asking a technical question about why she can't amend her return, and people are answering tax questions about the fact that both spouses have to itemize if one itemizes.  That has nothing to do with her question.

[VolvoGirl]

Did you go to My Info and go through your Personal Info again and when you pick MFS now say your spouse WILL Itemize (even if he's not) so it will force you to Itemize also.  Or the other way around.

[sclloyd]

Thanks everyone. By going in and editing my personal info there was a section a page or two in where I could unclick that my spouse would be filing itemized. Thank you for addressing my question.