OK, I took some of the suggestions above and took a look and now I see what is happening. The schedule A form is definitely not recognizing the home mortgage interest that I input from my 1098. It clearly states a 0 amount even though I did input the correct amount ($8906) into the deductions area of TT. It then adds up the $10K SALT cap amount, the $6716 charitable contributions and the incorrect $0 from the mortgage interest to get a total of $16716, which is less than the $24K standard so that is why it is giving me the standard deduction. So I go back to my original question: why isn't TT recognizing my mortgage interest as a deduction? I dug a bit deeper into some of the instructions from the TT program, and read under some special circumstances sections that "if you used part of your home for business (such as a home office), record all of your home's home loan interest when you enter your home office expenses. TT then prorates your home loan interest between your home office and your personal home based on the square footage of your office." My wife used part of our home for her home business, and when she listed the office expenses she took the $1500 simplified deduction rather than itemizing everything separately. Could that be the reason why the home mortgage interest is showing up as a $0 on the Schedule A form? I figure that I will have to file an amended return to get the deductions we're qualified for, but I need to know how to get the home mortgage interest properly entered because it seems like I have. Thanks.
