My spouse and I are married, living together, but filing separately due to the student loan situation.
In the 'Determine my Oregon deduction' screen, it gives me the following three options:
- My spouse and I both claim the Oregon standard deduction. Take Oregon standard deduction.
- My spouse claims Oregon itemized deductions, therefore I take the Oregon standard deduction.
- I'm the first spouse filing, and choose to itemize my Oregon deductions. Take Oregon itemized deductions.
Does this mean if one spouse takes Oregon itemized deductions, the other spouse has no choice but to take Oregon standard deduction (which is $0 for married filing separately in this case)?
We are splitting our home mortgage, property taxes, and everything else, and I'm not sure why it won't allow for both of us to claim Oregon itemized deductions. Can anybody help me here or give me resources so I can understand better? Thank you.
UPDATE:
I just called and talked to an agent at Oregon Department of Revenue, and she confirmed that it is okay for two people who are married and filing separately to each claim itemized deductions.
Now my question is... why is Turbotax blocking that?
In the Info Worksheet under Oregon Forms, Part V - Standard Deductions/Itemized Deductions have two checkbox statements:
- Married filing separately and spouse itemizes deductions
- Married filing separately and spouse claims standard deduction
If I check the first one, because I'm married filing separately and my spouse itemizes deductions, it automatically switches my deductions from itemized to standard. Is this some sort of a glitch? Should I just not check it so both of us can claim itemized deductions?
