Key Takeaways
- Many everyday expenses can be itemized as deductions on your income tax return.
- Categorize your expenses into IRS-approved deduction categories such as medical and dental expenses, deductible taxes, home mortgage points, charitable contributions, certain casualty and theft losses, and more.
- You can bunch your expenses into one tax year to maximize the value of your itemized deductions while taking the standard deduction in other years.
- If you've been holding off on certain deductible purchases, consider making them during a year in which you itemize.
Maximizing your deductions
Many of your everyday expenses can be itemized as deductions on your income tax return, saving you lots of money at tax time. However, unless you have a large amount of qualifying expenses, you might be better off taking the Standard Deduction, as most taxpayers do. Since you can decide every year whether you want to take the Standard Deduction or not, careful tax planning can help you maximize your deductions in years you itemize.
Categorize deductions
Only certain expenses can be classified as itemized deductions. To maximize your deductions, you'll have to have expenses in the following IRS-approved categories:
- medical and dental expenses
- deductible taxes
- home mortgage interest and points
- investment interest
- charitable contributions
- certain casualty and theft losses
- educator expenses (starting with the 2026 tax year)
- gambling losses to the extent of gambling winnings
Your expenses in certain categories must cross various thresholds in order to itemize. For example, your medical and dental expenses are only deductible to the extent they exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income (AGI).
TurboTax Tip:
Keep a checklist of allowable deductions to avoid overlooking expenses that can be deducted.
Bunch deductions
Bunching your deductions can maximize the value you get out of them, especially in categories where you have to cross a minimum threshold.
For example, if you have medical expenses every year that equal 5% of your AGI, you'll never get to itemize those deductions. But, if you can push any of those regular expenses into the following year, you may have more than 7.5% of your AGI in expenses in one year, instead of 5%. In this scenario, a portion of those expenses may become deductible.
Spend when itemizing
If you intend to itemize in any given year, it makes sense to generate as much spending as possible in deductible categories to get the maximum effect. While spending just to generate a deduction isn't advisable, if you've been holding off on certain purchases, it can make more sense to make those purchases during a year in which you itemize.
For example, if you have been delaying certain medical treatments, you'll get more mileage out of your deductions if you spend that money in a year when you're already over the medical deduction threshold.
Consider limits on high-income taxpayers
Also keep in mind that, starting with the 2026 tax year, higher-income people will see their itemized deductions reduced. If you're in the 37% tax bracket – which is the highest federal income tax bracket – your itemized deductions for the year will generally be cut by roughly 5.4% of whichever of the following amounts is smaller:
- your total itemized deductions
- your taxable income above the threshold for the 37% bracket, plus your total itemized deductions (see the current tax brackets for the threshold that applies to your filing status)
Follow a checklist
If you take certain deductions every year, you might get in the habit of overlooking other available options. Keeping a checklist of available deductions can help you unearth both one-time and everyday expenses that you can actually deduct.
For example, if you have gambling losses, you can claim an itemized deduction for the smaller of:
- 90% of your gambling losses for the year
- your gambling winnings for the year
(The deduction was only limited by your gambling winnings before the 2026 tax year.)
In addition, if you regularly take itemized deductions for charitable contributions, you might also be able to deduct your mileage and expenses for travel associated with volunteer work for a charity.
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