Mandatory Itemizing for Standard Deduction?

[lb80]

CA senior, over 65 yo, w/ income property who takes a standard deduction, do I still have to complete all the forms/questions for itemizing even though I don’t qualify for itemized deductions?

[SwapnaM]

@lb80 Thanks for the question!!

If you know for sure you don't have enough to Itemize you really don’t have to enter them.

Your tax situation can change from year to year, so you want to make sure that you look at everything to make sure you take advantage of all applicable deductions and have the most beneficial outcome. Turbo Tax starts out by giving you the Standard Deduction automatically.  Then if you enter more Itemized Deductions, it will switch you.  You would want to enter all of your information into the program to determine whether your itemized deductions are greater than your standard deduction, in which case itemizing would be more beneficial to you. Based upon the information that you enter to the questions asked, the program will calculate the most beneficial tax outcome for you!