Turbo Tax gives you the larger amount. Some of your deductions may be limited like Medical and state taxes paid.
For 2022 the standard deduction amounts are:
Single 12,950 + 1,750 or 65 and over or blind (14,700)
HOH 19,400 + 1,750 for 65 and over or blind
Joint 25,900 + 1,400 for each 65 and over or blind (28,700)
Married filing Separate 12,950 + 1,400 for 65 and over or blind
The federal Standard Deduction is a fixed dollar amount, based on your filing status and age, that the IRS lets you deduct from your taxable income. Itemizing deductions allows you to list (itemize) your individual deductions on Schedule A. You can choose one or the other, not both.
After you've completed the Deductions & Credits section of TurboTax, we'll let you know which deduction gives you the biggest tax break.
Thank you,
My confusion is that tubotax states you must both itemize when filling seperately if one of the parties itemizes which I did, but then it gives the option to not itemize for the spouse. This is very confusing and contradictory.
I want to make sure I'm following IRS code.
Per IRS: If you and your spouse file separate returns and one of you itemizes deductions, the other spouse must also itemize, because in this case, the standard deduction amount is zero for the non-itemizing spouse.
Thank you for the clarification
There seems to be an error in the tubotax program: It recommends that my wife take the standard deduction (and gave her the option) rather than itemizing even though it knew that she was married filing separately and her spouse (me) was itemizing. This is an issue with the program that may cause an audit and penalties after filing.