Deductions & credits

I'm having the same issue with my Home & Business Edition- Desktop Edition.  My itemized deductions are ~$8K higher than the standard deduction but are still under the new 2025 SALT cap of $40K (and I cannot find that my state of California caps SALT differently). 

 

  • TT software
    • defaulted me to using Standard,
    • showed that both deductions = the same tax-owed result (bug?!?!),
    • I did NOT have that box checked in the Forms to default to Standard even if better than itemized.   

I feel like my taxes should be reduced by another ~$8K.

Please advise?