What is itemized deductions

[DonaldM]

Itemized deductions are things like home mortgage interest, real estate property taxes, state income or sales taxes, charitable contributions, etc.
For each filing status there is a standard deduction that you can take without having to prove anything, if you have itemized deductions that add up to be more than the standard deduction for your filing status, then you can get a greater tax benefit by using the itemized deductions, BUT for every penny of itemized deductions, you must have a written record which proves the expense that you could show to the IRS in the event of an audit.