Does TurboTax assume it is best to take the Federal standard deduction if greater than itemized deductions, even where choosing Federal itemized deductions results in lower state tax liability (without increasing the Federal tax liability)?
I used the online TurboTax free version to prepare personal Federal and Massachusetts returns.
Massachusetts allows a deduction for certain medical expenses but only to those filers who itemized deductions on the Federal return. TurboTax suggested using the Federal standard deduction because it was significantly greater than my itemized deductions, which were mostly medical. When making this comparison, TurboTax apparently didn't take into consideration the significant reduction in state tax liability resulting from use of the medical deduction.
Shouldn't TurboTax consider the state medical deduction when comparing my Federal standard deduction vs. itemized deductions? I had to manually select the Federal itemized deductions in order to reduce the Massachusetts tax liability.
I'm wondering if this is a glitch with TurboTax, or is this not a proper way for me to proceed?
Thank you in advance for any clarifications.
