Should you itemize?

1. 1

   Pick the tax year you are filing for

   The charitable rules changed for 2026 and the standard deduction moves every year, so a 2025 return and a 2026 return are different comparisons. Only years whose figures were read from the IRS revenue procedure are offered.

2. 2

   Pick your filing status

   This sets the number your itemized total has to beat, and it is the largest single input in the whole comparison. The figure is looked up rather than typed, and it arrives with the section of the revenue procedure it came from.

3. 3

   Enter what you would actually be able to claim

   State and local taxes after whichever cap applies to you, mortgage interest, medical costs above the floor, and charitable contributions split into cash and donated goods. The tool applies no cap and no medical floor of its own; the deduction strategy calculator applies the statutory SALT cap for you if you would rather start from the raw amount.

4. 4

   Read the gap, not just the winner

   The result is a difference in dollars. If the standard deduction is ahead, that difference is what a heavy year would have to close before any of it changes a return. If itemizing is ahead, that difference is the only part doing new work.

• It does not apply the state and local tax cap. That deduction is generally capped, and nobody here has read a primary source stating the cap for these years, so no figure for it is published and none is applied. The field asks for the amount you expect to be able to claim after the cap, which means the answer is only as good as that entry.
• It does not apply the medical floor. Medical and dental costs are generally deductible only above a percentage of adjusted gross income. Same rule as above: no sourced figure, so no arithmetic. Enter only what is left above the floor.
• It is federal only. No state or local income tax is modeled anywhere on this site. State rules differ, and a state return can land on the other side of this question from the federal one.
• It does not know your age, your spouse, or your household. An additional standard deduction generally applies at 65 or older or blind, which would raise the number you have to beat. Married filing separately carries its own trap: if one spouse itemizes, the other generally cannot take the standard deduction. Neither is modeled here.
• It does not model the high-income limit on itemized deductions. The IRS states that for tax year 2026 itemized deductions are reduced by 5.4% of the lesser of the itemized total or the taxable income above a threshold set by filing status. It reaches the top rate bracket only, and it is not applied here. Publication 505 (2026), Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax, What's New, full text.
• It does not tell you what the deduction is worth. A deduction reduces taxable income rather than tax, so what it saves depends on your marginal rate and on the part above the standard deduction. The tax savings calculator walks that chain with the assumption printed next to each step.

• CalculatorDonation value calculatorAdd up a whole carload, item by item, with the published source behind every line.
• LookupDonation value lookupOne item, one condition, one answer: what a donated thing is generally worth.
• CalculatorTax savings calculatorWhat a donation actually does to a federal tax bill, shown as a chain rather than a verdict.
• CalculatorDeduction strategy calculatorStandard or itemized for 2026, computed from raw amounts with the statutory SALT cap applied.
• CheckerForm 8283 checkerDo you need Form 8283 this year, and does it land in Section A or Section B?
• ChecklistReceipt checklistThe records the IRS generally expects at your donation amount, as a printable list.
• CalculatorBag of clothes calculatorA defensible estimate for bags and boxes, with the per-item assumption on screen and editable.
• CalculatorCharitable mileage calculatorMiles driven for volunteer work at the statutory rate, plus parking and tolls.

Everything together on the free tools page.

Every dollar figure on this page was read from the linked IRS source on August 9, 2026, and each one carries the section it was read from. The 2026 charitable changes are stated in Publication 505 and Topic no. 506, while Publication 526 is still the 2025 edition, which is why this page attributes them to the IRS rather than asserting them. Thresholds and exceptions change, and this is general information rather than advice about your return. This is record-keeping software, not tax advice.