Every U.S. taxpayer gets to choose between two ways of reducing their taxable income: take the flat standard deduction, or itemize specific deductions instead. You can’t do both. Since the 2017 tax law roughly doubled the standard deduction, about nine out of ten filers take it — itemizing only beats it in a small set of specific situations.
What each one is
A deduction reduces the income that’s subject to tax. (Our piece on how taxes actually work covers the difference between deductions and credits in detail.)
The standard deduction is a flat amount the IRS lets every taxpayer subtract from gross income, no questions asked, no receipts required. The amount is set each year and depends on your filing status. You don’t need to do anything to claim it — your tax software or preparer will apply it by default unless you tell it otherwise.
Itemizing is the alternative: instead of the flat amount, you list and total specific qualifying deductions and subtract that total instead. Itemizing only makes sense when your total qualifying deductions exceed the standard deduction.
The 2026 amounts
| Filing status | Standard deduction · tax year 2026 |
|---|---|
| Single | $16,100 |
| Married filing jointly | $32,200 |
| Head of household | $24,150 |
| Married filing separately | $16,100 |
There are additional standard-deduction bumps for filers who are 65 or older, or blind. For tax year 2026 these add $1,650 for single/head-of-household filers and $1,600 for married filers per qualifying condition.
What counts as itemizable
Itemized deductions are listed on Schedule A. The four categories that account for almost all itemizers’ totals:
- State and local taxes (SALT). State income tax (or state sales tax, whichever is larger), plus property taxes. Capped at $10,000 total under current law.
- Mortgage interest. Interest on home-acquisition debt, generally up to $750,000 of mortgage principal.
- Charitable contributions. Cash and non-cash donations to qualified charities, with documentation. Subject to AGI-based limits.
- Medical expenses. Out-of-pocket medical costs above 7.5% of adjusted gross income. The threshold is high enough that most filers don’t clear it.
Other categories exist (gambling losses up to gambling winnings, certain investment expenses, casualty losses in federally-declared disaster areas) but rarely move the needle.
How to decide
The decision comes down to one comparison. Add up your itemizable deductions for the year. If the total is greater than your standard deduction, itemize. If not, take the standard deduction.
That couple’s total itemizable deductions are $26,000 — less than the $32,200 standard deduction for tax year 2026. Even with a mortgage and meaningful giving, they’re better off with the standard deduction by about $6,200.
The profile that actually benefits from itemizing in 2026:
- Homeowners in high-cost-of-living areas with large mortgages and high property taxes
- Filers in high-income-tax states (NY, CA, NJ, IL, MA), though the SALT cap blunts this
- Households with significant charitable giving — particularly “bunching” multiple years of donations into one tax year to clear the standard deduction in alternate years
- Anyone with major out-of-pocket medical expenses in a single year
For most filers — renters, low-tax states, modest mortgages, ordinary giving — the standard deduction wins comfortably. Most tax software runs both calculations automatically and picks the larger one. If yours doesn’t, do the addition once: it takes ten minutes and tells you for years to come which side of the line you’re on.
Sources & further reading
- 01Topic 501 — Should I Itemize?. Internal Revenue Service · 2024
- 02Standard Deduction. Internal Revenue Service · 2024