Thanks Britney. Yes, I have previewed both options, and even played around with it and switched between them.
It's very perplexing. How does an itemized deduction that is smaller than the standard deduction produce a higher refund? I actually found the issue right before e-filing when I was able to review the 1040.
I just spent an hour on the phone with a TurboTax expert/CPA. He reviewed the whole return and could not figure it out either. He suggested taking the standard deduction because even though it produces a smaller refund (by about $1k), the refund (or part of it at least) won't be taxable next year if I take the standard deduction.
We double-check filing status (married filing jointly) , so that isn't the issue.
