Some itemized deductions are limited in their deductible amounts. So the total of the deductions may be less than entered. After entering your deductions TurboTax will automatically determine which is best for your tax filing.
Your expenses in certain categories must cross various thresholds in order to itemize. For example, your medical and dental expenses are only deductible to the extent they exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income (AGI) for 2020.
Also, the basic rule is that your contributions to qualified public charities, colleges and religious groups can't exceed 60 percent of your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) (100% of AGI in 2020 for qualified charities).
- The caps are a bit lower for gifts to other types of nonprofits. When it comes to gifts of appreciated property, the limit drops to 30 percent of AGI.
- If these restrictions limit your write-off in the year of the gift, the excess deduction carries over to the next year.
Donating used goods such as clothing, linens, electronics, appliances and furniture gets you a write-off for the item's fair market value at the time you donated it, which may be considerably less than what you originally paid.
