If i file a federal standard deduction can i itemize my california deduction?

[tjcooper]

Each state seems to be different for allowing itemized vs standard deduction different from the Federal.  What is allowed in California?  What method do I use to take itemized for the STATE when I have taken the default standard for Federal?

TurboTax has stopped allowing me to input property taxes, etc because for their standard deduction I have reached the $10,000 max.  Do I have to re-enter all the deductions and itemizations when I go to the State Tax for TurboTax?

[Cindy0H · Accepted solution]

Yes, you can file a federal standard deduction and itemize in California. No, you do not have to enter all of your itemized deductions that you entered for the federal return for a second time. They will flow to the California return.

When you go through the California interview, some things you might watch for:

• Mortgage and Home Equity Interest...read the blue underlined sections
• Business summary
• Here's the income that California handles differently

Here is some good information about California taxes:

https://www.thebalance.com/california-personal-income-tax-3193243

If you have other questions about this, ask in the comment box below.

[tjcooper]

The answer does not cover HOW to do state as ITEMIZED when federal is STANDARD.  I believe there is a BUG in TURBOTAX that even when you set the california form CA to say that is what you are doing the calculations to not apply itemized items added to FORMS in the federal to apply them to california state return.  Turbotax should investigate this process and give a "white paper" on the process.
   tjcooper

[tjcooper]

After reloading TurboTax 2018 deluxe about 5 times, we discovered that ONLY by using the FORMS method of data entry could we get the Federal Forms to accept deductions values once I had reached the $10k limit for taxes/deductions set for Federal.  If you use FORMS for Sch A then you can enter all the deductions you have.  You then go to the end of the Deductions interview section and are allowed to change you itemization decision.  That was the ONLY WAY I could get standard deduction for Federal and get itemization for California and have all the deductions flow into the right place.   I consider this to be a serious programming bug.
   tjcooper