How do i know if i should itemize deductions or not? need online chat with a live person

[dogwood4846]

oh my. help! should i itemize or use standard deductions.

[Anonymous]

if you have the time enter your itemized. TT will choose the higher of your standard deduction or itemized.  in addition, some states allow itemized deductions for certain items so there could be some benefit to entering them 

[Bsch4477]

Go ahead and itemize. If it turns out that your standard deduction is better, the program will choose that. 

[VolvoGirl]

Do you think you will have enough to itemize this year?  Starting in 2018 the Standard Deduction doubled so many people switched to the Standard Deduction.  And there is a max 10,000 limit (5,000 MFS) of property tax and state taxes "SALT".

For 2019 the standard deduction on 1040 line 9 amounts are:

Single 12,200 + 1,650 for 65 and over or blind (13,850)

HOH 18,350 + 1,650 for 65 and over or blind

Joint 24,400+ 1,300 for each 65 and over or blind

Married filing Separate 12,200 + 1,300 for 65 and over or blind

[dogwood4846]

Hi!

So, this first-time-ever tax preparer started this process online w/Turbo yesterday. Don't judge, please! 😱

I was going to try itemizing and needed to pull together some documents.  Another day gone by.  Anyway, I went to log on and, although it brought up my account, I think it may have deleted what I did yesterday.  Would that be right?  Do I need to start over?  Thanks for your help!  Kathleen 

[SusanY1]

The data that you entered yesterday should be still available.  Do you see an option to "Pick up where I left off?" in the center of the screen?  If not, start with the My Info section and just click through to re-verify some data and to see that it is still there. 

TurboTax may ask you some questions again (this is normal for certain questions) but other data that you have entered such as your income or deductions should still be present as long as you logged back into the same account where you were initially working.

Thank you for using TurboTax for your first return, Kathleen!