Can I not claim sales tax? Turbo tax automatically put in. Do not want to claim sales taxes.

[arleneestevan]

I do not have receipts and do not want turbo tax to automatically add local and state tax rate.

[DawnC]

You do not have to deduct sales taxes.  If you're itemizing, you get to choose between deducting your state and local income taxes or your state and local sales taxes.  You cannot claim both, and you can't claim either one if you're taking the standard deduction.

Go ahead and enter all of your information - TurboTax will choose the higher deduction for you.   You can verify that you are taking the deduction you prefer by looking at your Schedule A, Line 5a.   There will be a checkmark next to that line if you are deducting sales taxes instead of income taxes.  

When you get to the end of the Sales Tax questions, TurboTax will tell you which deduction is higher and allow you to change it.   If you want to change it back later, before you file, click through the sales tax section again and you will land on that same page.   To get back there:

• Open or continue your return
• Search for sales tax and select the Jump to link in the search results
• On the Places You Lived screen, click Done
• Answer the Nontaxable income question (choose No if you are removing the sales tax deduction)
• On the We've Chosen a Deduction for You page, mark the Change your deduction box

[fanfare]

You do not need receipts if you take the sales tax deduction calculated by the program for you.