Life Changes

[ayamoo]

I sold a house which was owned jointly with my ex husband. We divorced right after. I did a side gig for a few months. What is the best way to file, itemized deductions or take the standard deduction?

[RobertB4444]

The sale of the house may be taxable.  When you enter the information into TurboTax the system will determine if you qualify to exclude the profits from the sale of the house as your primary residence.

Your side gig should have issued you a 1099-NEC to show how much money you earned for the year.  Because you were a contractor and not an employee you are able to deduct any expenses related to your side gig without itemizing deductions.  Those deductions would be strictly related to that job and the TurboTax system will walk you through what types of deductions are available to you.

The standard deduction for a single person for 2024 is $14,600.  That means that the government believes that you spent at least that much on things that should not be taxed during the year.  If you think you spent more than that on medical expenses, owning a home and charitable donations then you want to itemize and add up those amounts.  If your added up amounts are greater than $14,600 then you will itemize.  TurboTax will help with that as well.

@ayamoo