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What Is Schedule A (Form 1040 or 1040-SR): Itemized Deductions?
Let me explain Schedule A directly: it's the IRS form you use if you're a U.S. taxpayer choosing to itemize your tax-deductible expenses instead of opting for the standard deduction. You attach it to your Form 1040 when reporting your annual income taxes.
Key Takeaways
You use Schedule A to itemize your deductible expenses. If your expenses go beyond the standard deduction, you'll file this form instead. Remember, the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act capped state and local tax deductions and almost doubled the standard deduction. Eligible items include qualified medical expenses, state and local taxes, mortgage interest, sales tax payments, and certain charitable contributions.
Who Can File Schedule A?
Any U.S. taxpayer can file Schedule A and claim itemized deductions as an option over the standard deduction. You might deduct things like qualified medical expenses, a portion of state and local taxes (SALT), mortgage interest, certain sales tax payments, and some charitable contributions.
For 2024, the standard deduction is $14,600 for singles and married filing separately, $29,200 for joint filers, and $21,900 for heads of households. In 2025, it rises to $15,000, $30,000, and $22,500 respectively.
Many who used to itemize now prefer the standard deduction due to the TCJA's changes, which limit SALT deductions to $10,000 for married couples or $5,000 for separate filers, while doubling the previous standard amount.
Who Benefits from Filing Schedule A?
If you live in a high-tax state, that $10,000 SALT limit could push you toward the standard deduction unless you have other deductions to make up the difference. Plenty of taxpayers find their total eligible deductions fall short of the standard, so they skip tracking expenses and receipts—plus, itemized deductions can face IRS scrutiny, unlike the standard one.
File Schedule A when your significant eligible expenses surpass the standard deduction. A key indicator is your mortgage interest: if it's higher than the standard deduction (check your Form 1098), itemizing often pays off.
You can deduct interest on the first $750,000 of home mortgage debt ($375,000 if married filing separately), but higher limits of $1 million or $500,000 apply for debt before December 16, 2017.
How to File Schedule A
The instructions on Schedule A tell you which expenses qualify and where to list them. You can download the form from the IRS website.
You'll categorize your deductible expenses into six areas: medical and dental expenses, taxes you paid, interest you paid, gifts to charity, casualty and theft losses (only in federally-declared disaster areas), and other itemized deductions.
These itemized deductions, like the standard one, subtract from your adjusted gross income to figure taxable income. If you itemize, keep your records handy all year—receipts, invoices, and canceled check images.
What Is Schedule A?
Schedule A is the IRS form that lets you itemize deductions to lower your taxable income when filing taxes. You decide between this or the standard deduction.
What Can Be Claimed on Schedule A?
Use Schedule A to claim deductions that cut your taxable income and taxes owed. Categories include taxes, interest paid, gifts to charity, medical and dental expenses, certain casualty and theft losses, and other miscellaneous expenses.
What Cannot Be Itemized on Schedule A?
You can't itemize federal income and excise taxes, Social Security or Medicare taxes, federal unemployment, railroad retirement taxes, customs duties, federal gift taxes, per capita taxes, or foreign real property taxes.
Who Files Schedule A?
U.S. taxpayers file it to itemize deductions with their annual returns, choosing between itemizing or the standard deduction.
The Bottom Line
Schedule A is for taxpayers itemizing expenses over taking the standard deduction. If your eligible expenses—like medical costs, some state and local taxes, and charitable contributions—exceed the standard, you'll use this form.
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