topic How to tell Turbotax up front that I have no interest in itemizing? in Deductions & credits

How to tell Turbotax up front that I have no interest in itemizing?

RVfred — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 08:46:33 GMT

Since the increase standard deduction in 2018, I have had no interest in itemizing. The problem I want to solve is that Turbotax (unless I am just using it wrong) insists that I perform the laborious task of entering all the possible deductions and then at the end tells me that it looks like I should use the standard deduction. This is supposed to be a tool to make things easier. How do I tell it up front that I want the standard deduction? I use the downloadable desktop version of Turbotax.

Can the State (North Carolina) filing make an accurate assessment without all these itemized details? It appears they just piggy back off the Federal numbers.

thanks very much for any tips,

Re: How to tell Turbotax up front that I have no interest in itemizing?

xmasbaby0 — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 01:00:17 GMT

If you want to skip entering your itemized deductions you can do that. Many people will not have enough itemized deductions this year to itemize, and will just be getting their new higher standard deduction. The thing is, though, that some of those deductions could make a difference on a state return even if they do not affect your federal return. Information flows from your federal return to your state return, so it might not be a bad idea to go ahead and enter them anyhow. It cannot hurt you.

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,