itemized deductions are 19,157 while standard deduction for me is only 15,750, yet TurboTax says my refund is the same either way. Why can't I benefit from more deducts?

[SteamTrain]

@jamesyoung17 

IF your taxable income,  is already reduced to zero, then using more deductions doesn't get you anything more.

AND

IF your taxable income is already reduced to zero by the Std Ded...then that is usually better to use since any Stat refund won't become Federal incoem next year.  IF you choose to use Itemized deductions anyhow...then any state refund you get this year, will become taxable Fed income next year.

[MindyB]

It depends.  The most common reason for this is that your tax liability is already zero after using the standard deduction. At that point, your refund consists of the taxes already withheld from your paychecks and/or refundable credits, which won't change by adding more deductions.

Another possibility involves the difference between income tax and self-employment tax. If you have any 1099 or self-employed income, you're paying Social Security and Medicare taxes that aren't affected by itemized deductions. Itemizing only lowers your regular income tax, not self-employment tax.