topic Married filing separately - itemizing for state only in Get your taxes done using TurboTax

Married filing separately - itemizing for state only

lorettalynn2 — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 10:48:44 GMT

My spouse and I are doing married filing separately at the advice of his tax professional. He has already filed his taxes and took the standard deduction for federal and itemized for state. I cannot figure out how to ensure that I am also itemizing for state on the software. It does not give me an option to choose like it did for federal. How do I change the state one specifically to itemizing?

Re: Married filing separately - itemizing for state only

PatriciaV — Sun, 25 Feb 2024 13:49:39 GMT

Please clarify which state return you are filing. The options differ for some states.

Re: Married filing separately - itemizing for state only

xmasbaby0 — Sun, 25 Feb 2024 13:51:13 GMT

Information flows from the federal return to the state return. You enter your itemized deductions in the federal return and they flow over to the state. That will work in certain states that allow itemized deductions even if you use standard deduction for the federal.

The following states allow you to itemize deductions on just the state return: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, and Wisconsin,

Re: Married filing separately - itemizing for state only

lorettalynn2 — Sat, 02 Mar 2024 10:45:57 GMT

California

Re: Married filing separately - itemizing for state only

LenaH — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 20:49:07 GMT

You can elect to itemize your deductions for your California return on Schedule CA, Part II.

You can make this election using the Forms mode in TurboTax Desktop. If you are currently using TurboTax Online, please see How do I switch from TurboTax Online to TurboTax Desktop?

Once you pull up your return in TurboTax Desktop:

Enter Forms mode by clicking on Forms in the blue header at the top of the page.
After you scroll down to your California return on the left hand side of the screen, click on Schedule CA.
Scroll down to Part II.
Click on the box to force your itemized deductions. I have attached a screenshot below of Part II for additional guidance.

@lorettalynn2