Compare your itemized deductions on Schedule A against the standard deduction. Includes the SALT cap (still $10K for 2025; $40K under OBBBA for taxpayers under $500K starting 2026), mortgage interest, charitable, and medical with the 7.5%-AGI floor.
2025: SALT capped at $10,000 ($5,000 MFS).
2026-2029 (OBBBA): $40,000 cap for taxpayers with AGI under $500,000. Reverts to $10,000 for 2030+.
If your state income + property + sales tax exceeds the cap, the excess simply doesn't deduct.
Every taxpayer subtracts either the standard deduction or the total of their itemized deductions from adjusted gross income — whichever is larger — to arrive at taxable income. You take the standard deduction by default; you itemize on Schedule A only when your deductible expenses add up to more. For 2025 the standard deduction (as increased by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act) is $15,750 for single filers, $31,500 for married filing jointly, $23,625 for head of household, and $15,750 for married filing separately. For 2026 the single and joint amounts rise to $16,100 and $32,200.
Taxpayers age 65 or older or blind add an extra standard amount — $2,000 for single or head-of-household filers and $1,600 per qualifying spouse for married filers in 2025. Separately, OBBBA created a new $6,000 senior deduction (per person age 65+) for tax years 2025 through 2028 that is available whether you itemize or take the standard deduction; it phases out for modified AGI above $75,000 single / $150,000 joint and is gone by $175,000 / $250,000.
A married couple filing jointly has $9,000 of state and local taxes, $11,000 of mortgage interest, and $4,000 of charitable gifts — $24,000 of itemized deductions. Because the 2025 joint standard deduction is $31,500, they are better off taking the standard deduction and skip Schedule A entirely. If their mortgage interest were instead $25,000 (total itemized $38,000), itemizing would save them tax on the extra $6,500 above the standard amount.
The state and local tax (SALT) deduction is capped — OBBBA raised the cap to $40,000 for 2025, which pushes some upper-middle-income filers in high-tax states back into itemizing for the first time since 2018. Medical expenses are deductible only to the extent they exceed 7.5% of AGI, so they rarely tip the scales by themselves. Married-filing-separately spouses must both use the same method: if one itemizes, the other cannot take the standard deduction. A useful planning move is “bunching” — concentrating two years of charitable gifts or elective medical costs into one year so that year clears the standard-deduction threshold while the off-year takes the standard amount.
After the One Big Beautiful Bill Act increase, it is $15,750 for single filers, $31,500 for married filing jointly, $23,625 for head of household, and $15,750 for married filing separately, plus additional amounts for taxpayers who are 65 or older or blind.
Yes. The cap on the state and local tax deduction rose to $40,000 for 2025 (from $10,000 under prior law), subject to a high-income phasedown. This is the change most likely to move taxpayers from the standard deduction to itemizing.
Yes. The OBBBA senior deduction (up to $6,000 per person age 65 or older, 2025–2028) is claimed in addition to either the standard deduction or itemized deductions, subject to the MAGI phase-out described above.