@jmjm5353 wrote:
I filed Married filing Separately. My spouse did not file at all. If he had filed, he would NOT have used Scheduled A since he has absolutely no deductions.
More information is needed. You may just have to wait for the letter. Even if your $12,400 deduction was denied AND the IRS did not give you credit for any itemized deductions, you would have to be in the 32% tax bracket or higher for you to have more than a $3000 swing in your tax liability. Maybe they changed some other things as well.
Regarding schedule A, if you claimed the standard deduction, you never filed a schedule A, so the only thing the IRS can put on schedule A is state and local income taxes, that are shown on your W-2. The IRS doesn't know about and can't guess about your charitable deductions or personal property or sales tax, and even though they IRS may have information about your mortgage interest and property taxes, they don't know that you actually paid them (instead of someone else) unless you report them yourself.
If it turns out your spouse did file, and did itemize their deductions, then you are disallowed from using the standard deduction. In this case, you can respond to the letter by indicating that you had more itemized deductions than the IRS credited you with, and prepare an amended tax return showing the new amount you owe, and pay that amount along with sending the amended return and a letter of explanation to the IRS office that sent you the adjustment notice.
If you are 100% sure your spouse did not file or did not itemize, you can try to appeal. You would probably need a signed affidavit from your spouse and a copy of their tax return to send with your appeal letter. It could also be that your spouse itemized by mistake. In that case, your spouse will want to file an amended return to change to the standard deduction, and you would send a copy of the amended return to the IRS with a letter of explanation.
