Mortgage Interest Deduction and Prop Tax not working. Forces Standard Deduction even though credits are way over $25k.

[Vanessa A]

If your standard deduction is greater than your itemized deduction, after you walk through and enter all of your itemized expenses, you will come to a screen that says your standard deduction is greater than your itemized expenses so it is giving you the standard deduction.

Not all of what you enter is deductible.  If you enter $10,000 in medical expenses and your AGI is $100,000, then you would only get a medical expense deduction of $2,500 because medical expenses are only deductible for the amount that is over 7.5% of your AGI.

State and Local taxes that you paid, are capped at $10,000. So even if you paid in $20,000 between property taxes and income taxes, it is limited to $10,000.  

Charitable contributions can also be limited to somewhere between 20% to 60% of your AGI depending on the type of organization.  

Itemized expenses include mortgage interest, charitable contributions, gambling losses up to your winnings,  state and local taxes up to $10,000, medical expenses in excess of 7.5% of your AGI and casualty and losses in excess of 10% of you AGI with the first $100 not counting towards the loss.  

Then your total itemized expenses would need to be greater than your standard deduction below in order to benefit from your insurance premium payments. 

So if you are seeing a better tax liability with the standard deduction than you are with your Itemized deductions, it is likely because the limitations on the itemized deductions reduced their value to below the standard deduction. 

You can look at 12 of your 1040 to see how much you are getting for either deduction when you force the deduction versus the standard deduction. 

The 2023 Standard Deductions are as follows:

• Married Filing Joint (MFJ)              $27,700
• Married Filing Separate (MFS)      $13,850
• Head of Household (HOH)             $20,800 
• Single                                                     $13,850                                

Blind and MFJ or MFS add $1,500

Single or HOH if blind add $1,850

Standard versus Itemized Deduction

Pub 526 Charitable Contributions

On the menu bar on the left that shows. 

1. Select Tax Tools 
2. On the drop-down select Tools 
3. On the pop-up menu 
4. Select View Tax Summary 
5. On the left sidebar, select Preview my 1040 

If you are using the online version and have already paid, you can go to the print center and look at your Schedule A to see your exact numbers in each category. 

If you are using the desktop version, you can switch to forms mode to see  your 1040 form and your schedule A for a better breakdown.

[MStau]

Thank you, but I am aware of these limitations and factors in arriving at a decision between itemized deductions and the standard deduction.  I meet the $10k limit on taxes and my mortgage interest (primary residence) and charitable contributions (no limits affect me) put me well in excess of $27,700, not even close.

As I look further, there are other program errors.  The number I entered for mortgage interest expense is NOT carried forward accurately to the Schedule A summary.  In addition, as I look at the Deductions summary in the Federal review, my real estate taxes (well over $10k) are not carried forward.

Seems to me I have a very buggy desktop version.  Is there someone at TurboTax that I can somehow reach out to?

[zomboo]

Yes you can talk to a Turbo Tax representative directly. You will need a Turbo Tax account. Select Help on the left hand side of the black task bar at the top of the screen, not the Help Center button on the right hand side. Select Turbo Tax Help Center from the drop down list. In the Turbo Tax Help window, select Contact Us. Type in something like Itemized Deduction Error in the dialog box. You will then get instructions to call.

[mingcheli]

You are right. My itemized deduction should be $36,622 after accounting for SALT limit of $10,000 (vs. $25,257). TurboTax Premium version forces me to use $30,700 for senior standard deduction. I have used Premium for more than a decade, this is  serious bug.

[LindaS5247]

You can select the alternative deduction by doing the following in TurboTax. I'm not sure what you have tried, but this method allows you to switch your deductions from standard to itemized and vice versa.

Go to "Deductions and Credits" and select "I'll choose what I work on"

Answer the prompts and you will come to the screen that says "You've chosen the itemized deductions" (or "You've chosen the Standard Deduction" in your case). This is where you will make the change.

It will look like this:

Select "Change My Deduction" and then select  which deduction you wish to take.

Please feel free to come back to TurboTax Community with additional information or questions or click here for help in contacting Turbo Tax Support. 

[douglascjacobs]

I have the same issue as above with my 2023 Form 1040.  My deductions include the max of $10,000 for taxes and $9844 in charitable contributions.  Yet there is no Schedule A in my system for 2023 and the tax return reflects the standard deduction of $15,700 for my age as a single over 65 year old taxpayer.

[Cynthiad66]

Sounds like your computer may be experiencing a loop.  Let's clear your cookies, history and cache' then reboot.

Cookies are small files that temporarily store data on your computer. We use them to personalize your experience so you see information you already entered and not items that are irrelevant or repetitive.

On rare occasions, they may make your browser think you already did something that you still need to do. To fix that, you'll need to delete (clear) the cookies from your browser.

Each browser has a slightly different method for deleting cookies. Choose the browser you're using:

• Internet Explorer
• Mozilla Firefox
• Google Chrome
• Safari
• Safari for iOS (mobile devices)

Related Information:

• How to clear your cache

@douglascjacobs 

[bmfox11]

I had the same problem. I fixed it by toggling to the forms view by clicking the Forms button on the top right. I navigated to Home Interest Worksheet and selected Yes to the question "Is this loan secured by a residence of yours". Turbo Tax had left this question unanswered. The interest was then included in my itemized deductions.

[Amd25]

Was this every solved ?  I'm having the same problem in 2025 - itemized not adding up and saying standard deduction even through with limits i would still be over standard deduction. 

[LeticiaF1]

After you enter your itemized deduction in the Deductions and credits section, TurboTax will ask questions to determine what deduction is best for you.  It also lets you switch the deduction to what you want to take.   See the following TurboTax article for instructions on how to change your deduction:

How do I change from the standard deduction to itemized (or vice-versa)?

@Amd25

[Amd25]

I actually did that - it has zero listed for itemized deductions so a bug with turbo tax.  After spending several hours trying to get all the zeros for itemized dededuction to show the actual values - I followed the advice of another user you need to delete mortgage interest that you may have uploaded and then re enter answering the question on not linked to property save and then re answer the question. A bug in the software but I am getting a total now for itemized rather than zeros