Decide if itemizing is worthwhile anymore
This is one area where looking at your 2017 return can come in handy.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act nearly doubled the standard deduction for the 2018 tax year. As a result, itemizing deductions will no longer be worth it for millions of people. As a general rule, if you haven’t itemized in the past, you won’t do it now, unless your income or deduction situation has dramatically changed.
If you typically itemize deductions, however, you may be able to determine whether itemizing will be worth it for you.
Consider this example. Let’s say that you’re a married couple and that you had about $15,000 in itemizable deductions in 2017. Itemizing was worth it for you, since the standard deduction at the time was $12,600. For 2018, the standard deduction is $24,000, so it’s probably not worth itemizing (again, unless your situation changed dramatically).
