What this line means
The larger of your standard deduction or your itemized deductions from Schedule A. For 2025, the standard deduction is $15,750 (single), $31,500 (married filing jointly), and $23,625 (head of household). Most filers take the standard deduction because it exceeds their itemizable expenses. If your mortgage interest, state taxes, charitable contributions, and medical expenses total more than the standard deduction, itemizing saves you more.
Does this apply to you?
- Every filer completes this line — you either take the standard deduction or itemize
- You take the standard deduction if your itemizable expenses are below the standard amount
- You itemize on Schedule A if your deductible expenses exceed the standard deduction
- You are married filing separately and your spouse itemizes — you must itemize too (even if your standard deduction would be larger)
Easy to overlook
The extra standard deduction for age 65+ and blindness Filers age 65 or older get an additional standard deduction amount ($2,000 for single or head of household, $1,600 per spouse for married filing jointly in 2025). Many older filers do not realize this extra amount exists and either take the base standard deduction or itemize unnecessarily. If both spouses are 65+, the additional amount doubles. 1 IRS Publication 501 — Standard Deduction amounts
New OBBBA senior deduction for age 65+ The One Big Beautiful Bill Act created an additional deduction of up to $6,000 for taxpayers age 65 or older ($12,000 for married filing jointly if both spouses are 65+)2. This is on top of the additional standard deduction. The deduction phases out for taxpayers with modified AGI over $75,000 (single) or $150,000 (MFJ). Eligible seniors who do not know about this new deduction could miss thousands in tax savings. 3 OBBBA — One Big Beautiful Bill Act, tax deductions for seniors
You should check both methods every year Life changes — paying off a mortgage, moving to a high-tax state, making large charitable donations — can flip which method saves more. Filers get into a habit of always taking the standard deduction (or always itemizing) without checking whether the other method would produce a lower tax bill this year. 4 SOI data — filers not switching between standard and itemized
Watch out for this
Claiming the standard deduction when your spouse files separately and itemizes. If one spouse itemizes, the other must itemize too — even if their itemized deductions are less than the standard deduction. This rule catches couples who file separately without coordinating their returns.
Footnotes
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IRS Publication 501, Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p501.pdf ↩
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One Big Beautiful Bill Act (Public Law 119-21), Section on Tax Deductions for Seniors. IRS Fact Sheet FS-2025-03. https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/one-big-beautiful-bill-act-tax-deductions-for-working-americans-and-seniors ↩
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IRS, One Big Beautiful Bill Act — Tax Deductions for Working Americans and Seniors. https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/one-big-beautiful-bill-act-tax-deductions-for-working-americans-and-seniors ↩
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IRS Statistics of Income, Individual Income Tax Returns. https://www.irs.gov/statistics/soi-tax-stats-individual-income-tax-returns ↩