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I've got lots of paper all over my office. I'd sure like to get rid of some of it if
I don't need it. And one of the things that makes a lot of paper in my office are the
receipts that I save so that I can itemize them on my tax return. But how do you even
know if that's possible? I'm Kristen Brand and I'm going to show you a few things that
will indicate whether you can itemize on your tax return. The first thing you'll need to
figure out is what your standard deduction is. In order to do that, you can find a form
1040 and look at page 2. If you look at page 2 over here in the column, you'll see detail
on what the standard deduction is for you if you're single, married filing jointly,
married filing single or head of household. That will give you the number that have to
beat in order to make itemizing beneficial for you. So if your stack of receipts adds
up to more than this, then you're qualified to itemize. Typically it helps if you've got
something big that will knock you over that threshold like if you own your own home, the
interest on that mortgage is usually enough to get you pretty close to that number. And
then you'll have to add some other things on top of that. But if you can't pass that
threshold, then the standard deduction will actually be better for you and that will eliminate
a lot of paperwork on your part. I'm Kristen Brand and that's how you itemize on your tax
return.