How do i take the standard deduction

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
June 6, 2019
1 reply
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It appears I would be better of taking the standard deduction vs itemizing. How do I force the software to take the standard deduction?

TurboTax Premier Online

Anonymous

The software should give you whichever is greater automatically, but sometimes if you jump around it may not update. When you follow the steps to review your total itemized vs. standard, you may find it re-calculates. Regardless, you'll be able to manually select the best option as well.

Click Take me to my return
Select the Federal Taxes tab and then click the Deductions & Credits tab below it
Scroll down to the bottom of the listing of all deductions and credits. Click the button that says Wrap up Deductions (or a variation of this)
The next screens you see will vary based on what you've entered in your return. These are follow up/finalizing questions and be sure to re-answer them as applicable. You'll come to a screen titled We've chosen the "Itemized or standard deduction" for you.
On this screen, check the box to Change my deduction. Then, you'll see a comparison of your total Itemized vs. total Standard and can select the one that is best.

Let me know how it goes.

FlatulentTax

Level 2

This should be an easy decision by the user. Perhaps the main attraction to the standard deduction is not having to find relevant paperwork and enter all that information! I want it to be my choice.

pragmatico

Level 2

I agree. When I know I will be taking the standard deduction, TT ought to give me an abbreviated pathway that doesn't require that I enter numbers that can only be used if I were to take the itemized deduction path. Please give me the shortcut!