I paid like 5000 in interest on my home last year, I know this is tax deductible. on the ez form I can take an 8200 deduction. if I use the itemized form can I take the standard deduction AND deduct the interest on my house?
Warning: IANAL, and IANA tax accountant. But if you’re willing to trust the word of a guy who used to be a paid tax preparer, and who still does his own taxes, the answer is NO. It’s an either-or.
The purpose of the standard deduction is to give everyone a reasonable figure for things like home mortgage, medical expenses, charitable deductions, etc. That way, most people don’t need to bother with keeping receipts and accounting for each expense.
The only time it makes sense to itemize deductions is if you know that your deductible expenses in one or more of the categories is more than the standard deduction.
In addition, you can only itemize if your total deductions are more than the standard deduction (well, I suppose you could do it, but you’d be a fool to). That can be difficult to do.
And remember, you can also deduct property taxes if you itemize, as well as the interest. That, along with other things you can deduct may well make it worthwile for you.
From here, the IRS’s Your Federal Income Tax publication:
So as people have said, it’s either the one or the other, but not both.