When you prepare your federal tax return, the IRS gives you a choice: You can claim a standard deduction—a set amount available to all eligible taxpayers—or you can itemize your eligible expenses and deduct that total instead. Both deduction types reduce your taxable income and how much you owe the government in taxes as a result. But you can only use one deduction option each year. Here are some considerations for making that decision.
What are itemized deductions?
Itemized deductions are a list of expenses you could claim on your tax return to reduce your taxable income. State and local taxes, charitable donations, and home mortgage interest are a few of the expenses you may be able to deduct when you file your federal tax return.
When you itemize, you add up the value of all eligible deductible expenses. Then, you deduct that amount from your taxable income. For example, if you're a single filer, your adjusted gross income (AGI) before deductions is $80,000 and you have $20,000 in eligible itemized deductions, your taxable income, if you itemize, would be $60,000 ($80,000 minus $20,000).
Standard deduction vs. itemized
If you don’t itemize, your other option is to take the standard deduction, unless you’re a nonresident alien or married filing separately while your spouse is itemizing. In those cases, you can’t claim the standard deduction. But most other taxpayers may claim the standard deduction, regardless of their expenses that year. The amount you may claim is based almost entirely on your filing status. For tax year 2025, the standard deductions are as follows:
- Single filer: $15,750
- Head of household: $23,625
- Married filing jointly: $31,500
One exception: You receive a higher standard deduction than others in your filing status if you’re blind and/or age 65 or over.
If you take the standard deduction, you can’t itemize. In that case, your non-cash charitable donations, home mortgage interest, and other itemizable deductions wouldn’t have any impact on your taxable income or tax bill.
What can be itemized as deductions?
There are a few major categories of expenses that can be itemized deductions—and subcategories within those.
Medical and dental expenses. You might be eligible to deduct qualified medical and dental expenses that you paid out of pocket. This could include office appointments, as well as prescriptions, diagnostic tests, and hospital care. You could also deduct your insurance premiums, but only if you don't claim a credit or deduction for those premiums or pay them with pre-tax money directly from your paycheck. Previously reimbursed medical expenses, such as those paid for with an HSA, don't qualify.
One thing to note is you can deduct only health care expenses over 7.5% of your AGI. Say, for instance, your AGI is $100,000. Then, the first $7,500 of medical and dental expenses would not be deductible, but anything you spent over this limit during that tax year would be.
State and local taxes. You’ve likely paid state or local taxes of some kind throughout the year. If you choose to itemize for tax year 2025, you can deduct up to $40,000 in state and local taxes (SALT), or up to $20,000 if you're married filing separately. If your MAGI greater than $500,000, the amount of state and local taxes you can deduct is reduced for each dollar you earn above that amount, to a minimum of $10,000 for those with MAGI of $600,000 or greater. One catch: While anyone who itemizes can deduct property taxes, you can only deduct either state and local income taxes or state and local sales taxes. You can’t deduct both.
How do you decide? You could check your W-2 for the exact amount of state and local income taxes taken from your paychecks, or add up receipts if you made quarterly estimated tax payments. Next, use the IRS' optional state sales tax tables or their sales tax deduction calculator to determine how much you can deduct in state and local sales tax—or do the math if you kept track of the purchases you made throughout the year. Then, compare the state and local income taxes you’ve paid to the state and local sales taxes you’ve paid. The bigger the number, the bigger the potential tax benefit if you deduct that tax type.
Home mortgage interest. If you have a mortgage on your home, you might be eligible to deduct some of the interest paid on the loan. That amount depends on when you purchased the property. If you bought your home on December 15, 2017 or earlier, you can deduct interest on a mortgage up to $1 million. (Homeowners who are married filing separately can each deduct interest on up to $500,000 of a mortgage for a property bought on or before December 15, 2017.) If you bought after December 15, 2017, you can deduct interest on a mortgage up to $750,000. (Homeowners who are married filing separately can each deduct interest on up to $375,000 of a mortgage for a property bought after December 15, 2017.)
Gifts to charity. If you give cash or property to a charitable, religious, educational, or other qualified organization, you could deduct some or all the value of your donation. Starting in 2025, a 0.5% of AGI floor will be applied, meaning any charitable donation below that amount will cannot be taken as a deduction. You may be able to claim up the $1,000 if you are filing single or $2,000 if you are married filing jointly without itemizing your deductions for certain cash donations.
Losses in a disaster area. You could also deduct any losses from damage or theft if you live in an area impacted by a federally declared disaster. Note that the deductions you claim are limited by your income. You may also claim a qualified disaster loss without itemizing your deductions, but this follows a different set of rules.
Other itemized deductions. The IRS allows a few other possible deductions, such as for a portion of gambling losses, but only to the extent they offset your gambling winnings. Tax laws change frequently, so new deductions could be added while others could go away in the future. Limits on how much you can deduct might change too. Consider consulting a tax professional before you itemize.
When does it make sense to itemize vs. claim the standard deduction?
If you’re allowed to itemize or take the standard deduction, calculate which would be larger to get the biggest tax benefit. For instance, for your 2025 tax return, if you’re single and your eligible itemized expenses are more than the $15,750 standard deduction, itemizing would make more sense. If the total is less, taking the standard deduction is likely a better option. Married couples filing jointly would need to find out whether their eligible itemized deductions add up to more than $31,500 for the year before deciding whether to itemize vs. claim the standard deduction. Note: For higher income earners and those claiming the SALT deduction, comparing two mock tax returns—one claiming the standard deduction and one claiming itemized deductions—may be needed to determine the option with more tax savings. Consult a tax professional for your individual circumstances.
Since the standard deduction is so high, about 90% of filers use the standard deduction vs. itemizing, according to the IRS.1 Another potential reason taking the standard deduction is so common: Itemizing deductions takes more work because you need to track your expenses throughout the year and add them up. But if one or more of the following apply to you, and the combined total of your expenses exceeds the standard deduction, it makes sense to consider itemizing.
- You own a home and have paid any or all of the following: mortgage interest, real estate taxes, points. (Note: Mortgage insurance premiums are not deductible for tax year 2025 but will be starting in 2026.)
- You racked up a lot of expensive medical bills.
- You made sizable donations to qualified charitable organizations.
- You live in an area with high state and/or local income and/or sales taxes.
Keep in mind: You can change your deduction choice every year. If you take the standard deduction this year, you can still itemize next year if that leads to a better result then, and vice versa.
How to claim itemized deductions
- Track your itemizable deductions during the year. You’ll need to know how much you spent in each possible category when you prepare your taxes.
- Fill out Schedule A for your tax return. This form lists categories of itemizable deductions and gives you instructions for correctly totaling them. After completing the form, you’ll know how much you could deduct by itemizing.
- Compare your itemized deductions total against the standard deduction for your filing status. It only makes sense to claim itemized deductions if they add up to more than the standard deduction with any dependent deductions, like cash donations to charity. If your itemized deductions add up to less than the standard deduction with any dependent deductions, like cash donations to charity, you’d owe less in taxes by taking the standard deduction.
- Enter the itemized deduction amount as you complete your tax return. This information goes on Form 1040.
- Get help from tax software or a tax pro. If you’re worried about how to itemize deductions properly, a tax preparer or tax software could handle the calculations for you.
- Keep records of your deductions. If you’re audited, you might need to submit proof of expenses you deducted. You should hold onto receipts for 3 years, which is generally as far back as the IRS would audit past returns.
Is there a limit to the number of deductions you can claim?
There isn’t a maximum number of deductions you can claim when you itemize. However, the deductions themselves could have dollar amount limits. For high earners in the 37% income tax bracket, the tax savings from itemized deductions are limited to 35%.
For example, the home mortgage interest deduction only applies to the first $750,000 of your mortgage debt for homes purchased after December 15, 2017. Interest paid on mortgage debt over the $750,000 limit isn’t deductible.
The state deduction makes you choose between deducting your state and local income tax payments or your state and local sales tax payments. You can deduct either one, but not both, and only up to $40,000, with lower limits applying to high income individuals with MAGI of more than $500,000. Every deduction has its own set of rules and restrictions that you should review, either by looking at IRS.gov or with your tax preparer.