{"id":95,"date":"2014-12-19T15:04:09","date_gmt":"2014-12-19T20:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.etax.com\/?p=95"},"modified":"2014-12-04T15:06:21","modified_gmt":"2014-12-04T20:06:21","slug":"choosing-itemized-standard-deductions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/2014\/12\/19\/choosing-itemized-standard-deductions\/","title":{"rendered":"Choosing Between Itemized and Standard Deductions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\">Often, you\u2019ll have to choose between itemizing your deductions and taking a standard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/2026\/02\/19\/new-auto-loan-interest-deduction-how-to-save-up-to-10000-on-your-taxes-2025-2028\/\">deduction<\/a> when you are filing your taxes. You should determine what your deductions amount to using both methods, then choose which option decreases the amount of tax that you owe. Typically, the method that leads to the largest deduction will provide the biggest credit.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>How to Determine Itemized Deductions:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">First, you\u2019ll have to figure out the total amount of all of your deductions individually, in an itemized list. Any expenses that you\u2019ve paid during the year can include:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">Interest paid on a mortgage loan<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">Either sales tax or state and local income tax (choose one)<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">Charitable donations<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">Loss due to theft or casualty<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">Medical expenses that have not been covered by a third party<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">Business or work expenses that haven\u2019t been reimbursed<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">Taxes paid on real estate and personal property<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>What is the Standard Deduction?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">If you choose not to itemize your deductions, you can go for the standard option, which is based on your filing status. For 2014, the standard deduction is as follows:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">Single taxpayers &#8211; $6,200<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">Married Filing Jointly &#8211; $12,200<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">Head of Household &#8211; $9,100<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">Married Filing Separately &#8211; $6,200<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">Qualifying Widow(er) &#8211; $12,400<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">If you are over 65 years of age, or you are legally blind, the standard deduction rate is higher. Also, if you are able to be claimed as a dependent by anyone else, you may find your deduction is limited.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Which to Use?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">You\u2019ll have to check the requirements for each deduction option, as some taxpayers don\u2019t qualify for a standard deduction, and are forced to itemize. If a married couple files separately, and one spouse chooses to itemize, the other spouse may also be required to do so. When deciding which option to choose, you should carefully determine which method you are eligible for and which will result in the highest benefit.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Often, you\u2019ll have to choose between itemizing your deductions and taking a standard deduction when you are filing your taxes. You should determine what your deductions amount to using both methods, then choose which option decreases the amount of tax that you owe. Typically, the method that leads to the largest deduction will provide the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[123,125],"tags":[164,128,29,25,23,161,165,162,28,26,163],"class_list":["post-95","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deductions-2","category-general-filing","tag-casualty","tag-charitable-contributions","tag-employee-business-expenses","tag-itemized-deductions","tag-medical-expenses","tag-mortgage-interest","tag-real-estate-taxes","tag-sales-tax","tag-schedule-a","tag-standard-deductions","tag-theft"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Choosing Between Itemized and Standard Deductions - eTax.com\u00ae Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/2014\/12\/19\/choosing-itemized-standard-deductions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Choosing Between Itemized and Standard Deductions - eTax.com\u00ae Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Often, you\u2019ll have to choose between itemizing your deductions and taking a standard deduction when you are filing your taxes. 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