NYS Itemized Deductions

[edhutz]

I entered my itemized deductions which are less than the standard deduction for my federal return but greater than the standard deduction for my NY State return.  TurboTax used the standard deduction for both federal and state returns.  How do I get it to use itemized deductions for the state return?

[JotikaT2]

Make sure you have entered all of your itemized deductions in the Federal section of the program.

Even though you may not be able to itemize in the Federal return, your input in this section will pull into your state return when you go through the state interview section.

New York will select the deduction which provides the highest benefit for you based upon your input.

[edhutz]

Thanks for your response.  The problem was that there was no explanation of why TurboTax was still using the NYS standard deduction.  Finally figured it out by opening the Forms View to see that itemized deductions were phased out based on my income.  The end result was less than the standard deduction.  So, yes, your response was correct.  But it would have been better if the program would have given an explanation why the standard deduction was used and show the phase out.  I spent a lot of time trying to figure this out.

[JohnW222]

You're correct about the phaseout, edhutz, and hopefully the information below will help other TurboTax customers.

According to New York's Instructions for Form IT-196, for Tax Year 2019, a phaseout can kick in when the amount on Form IT-201, line 19, or Form IT-203, line 19 (Federal amount column), is greater than:

• $327,750 if married filing jointly or qualifying widow(er);

• $300,450 if head of household;

• $273,150 if single; or

• $163,850 if married filing separately.