Check both Standard and Itemized Deductions

I live in Virginia and am over 65. We get hit by the $10,000 limit on state and local taxes. In Virginia you have to use the same type of deduction for the State return as you used on the Federal return. Up until this year, itemized deductions always gave us the biggest refund. This year, the standard deduction gave us the biggest federal refund, but we wound up with a large Virginia state tax owed. I switched to itemized deductions for the federal return and that refund went down, but the amount owed on the Virginia return went down even more. By choosing the itemized deductions on the federal return, we saved about $265 on the federal and state taxes combined. So folks, might want to check which type of deduction works for you regarding your total state and federal taxes.

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