Can't change my deduction to itemized despite saying it's best for me. It's defaulting to standardized deduction?

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
February 25, 2021
9 replies
79 views

I can't seem to select itemized deduction. After doing my taxes and finishing the Deductions & Credits section, TurboTax online recommends the itemized deduction and I can select "itemized" but when I preview my tax filing, it's actually showing the standard deduction ($12,400).

It says "Based on what you just told us, itemizing your deductions is best for you". For reference it's only $12,500 (itemized) vs. $12,400 (standard). I made a $2,500 contribution to charity, so the calculation is $10,000 (property, state, and local tax deduction limit) + $2,500 (deductible charity) = $12,500 itemized.

What should I do here?

TurboTax Premier Online

WendyN2

Level 9

What you will want to do is this - Go back to the Itemized Deductions section where you entered this information (top tab "deductions and credits" under Federal Taxes and review everything while you are there to make sure everything was entered correctly. At the very bottom, if it all looks good, click on "Done with Deductions". Let the system run its check, then click continue when its done. This next page will show you your Total Deductions and Credits, click "continue". Then, on this next page, if all was entered correctly and you were previously selected as "Single", it should tell you that it has chosen Itemized Deductions for you.

todnanleff

Level 2

I have the exact same problem as OP and no matter what I do the program will not switch to itemized deductions even when I specific select it when prompted.

LFivecoat

Level 2

Just went through something similar. Ended up looking at the worksheets in the "forms" section and was able to manually check the box to itemize deductions- I'm married filing separately and my husband itemizes, so that's the box I checked. Do NOT go back to re-run the checker, from that point just move on to the State taxes. I was able to file federal electronically as long as I didn't go all the way back to have the auto-checker "do it's magic". bleh. A real pain in the butt.