Itemized Deductions Examples and How to Claim Them

Itemized deductions are specific personal expenses you subtract from taxable income instead of taking the flat standard deduction, and common examples include mortgage interest, state and local taxes, charitable donations, large medical bills, disaster losses, and gambling losses up to the amount you won. For 2026, itemizing only pays off if those expenses together beat the standard deduction: $16,100 for single filers, $32,200 for married couples filing jointly, and $24,150 for heads of household.¹ The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed in 2025, reshaped several of these categories for 2026, most notably a higher cap on state and local taxes, a new floor on charitable gifts, and a tighter limit on gambling losses.

Medical and Dental Expenses

You can deduct unreimbursed medical and dental costs for yourself, your spouse, and your dependents, but only the portion that exceeds 7.5 percent of your adjusted gross income.² If your AGI is $80,000, only costs above $6,000 count. That threshold is why this category mostly helps people who had an unusually expensive medical year.

Qualifying expenses cover a wide range of care: doctor visits, hospital stays, surgeries, dental work like fillings and crowns, eye exams, prescription glasses, and contact lenses.³ Prescription drugs and insulin count. Over-the-counter medications you buy without a prescription generally do not.² Health insurance premiums you pay out of pocket (not through a pre-tax employer plan) qualify, as do hearing aids, crutches, wheelchairs, and transportation to medical appointments.

Long-Term Care Insurance Premiums

Premiums for a qualified long-term care insurance policy count as medical expenses, but only up to a dollar limit based on your age at year-end. The 2026 limits:

Age 40 or younger: $500
Age 41 to 50: $930
Age 51 to 60: $1,860
Age 61 to 70: $4,960
Over 70: $6,200

These amounts fold into your total medical expenses and are still subject to the 7.5 percent AGI floor. For married couples, each spouse has a separate limit based on their own age.

State and Local Taxes (SALT)

The SALT deduction covers taxes you pay to non-federal governments. You can deduct state and local income taxes or state and local sales taxes (whichever is larger), plus real estate taxes and personal property taxes such as the value-based portion of a vehicle registration fee.⁴ The income-versus-sales-tax choice is especially useful if you live in a state with no income tax, where the sales tax number is likely larger.

For 2026, the combined SALT deduction is capped at $40,400 for most filers and $20,200 for married filing separately.⁵ That is a large jump from the $10,000 cap in place from 2018 through 2025. The higher cap phases down for taxpayers whose modified AGI exceeds $505,000 and eventually drops back to $10,000 at higher income levels. After 2029, the cap is scheduled to revert to $10,000 for everyone. If you pay substantial state income and property taxes, this deduction alone can push your total above the standard deduction.

Mortgage and Other Interest

Homeowners can deduct interest paid on a mortgage secured by a primary residence or a second home. For any mortgage taken out after December 15, 2017, the deduction applies to interest on up to $750,000 of loan principal ($375,000 if married filing separately).⁶ Mortgages that existed on or before that date still qualify under the older $1,000,000 limit. Points you pay the lender at closing count as deductible interest, either upfront on a purchase or spread over the loan term on a refinance.

Home Equity Loan Interest

Interest on a home equity loan or line of credit is deductible only if you use the borrowed money to buy, build, or substantially improve the home that secures the loan. Major renovations, room additions, and system upgrades typically qualify. Routine maintenance and repairs, like patching a roof leak or repainting, do not. If you tap a home equity line to pay off credit cards or cover tuition, that interest is not deductible. Your primary mortgage plus any home equity debt used for improvements still has to stay within the $750,000 or $1,000,000 limit.⁶

Investment Interest

If you borrow to buy taxable investments like stocks or bonds, you can deduct the interest, but only up to your net investment income for the year. Any excess carries forward. You claim this deduction on Form 4952, separate from the mortgage interest reported on Schedule A.⁷ Interest on personal debt like credit cards and car loans is never deductible.

Charitable Contributions

Donations to qualified nonprofits, including most 501(c)(3) organizations, reduce your taxable income when you itemize. Cash gifts to public charities are deductible up to 60 percent of your AGI for the year.⁸ Donations of long-term appreciated property like stock held over a year face a tighter cap of 30 percent of AGI. Excess giving carries forward for up to five years.

Starting in 2026, charitable contributions are deductible only to the extent they exceed 0.5 percent of your AGI. For someone earning $100,000, the first $500 in donations produces no deduction. This is a new floor that did not exist before the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Contributions to individuals, political organizations, and candidates never qualify.

Non-Cash Donations and Documentation

Donated property like clothing, furniture, and household goods must be in good or better condition to qualify. You deduct the fair market value, not what you originally paid. Documentation requirements scale with the value:

$250 or more: a written acknowledgment from the charity describing the donation and stating whether you received anything in return.⁹
Over $500: file Form 8283 with your return.¹⁰
Over $5,000: a qualified independent appraisal in addition to Form 8283.⁹
Over $500,000: attach the full appraisal to your return.

Donating a car or a valuable piece of art without an appraisal is an easy way to lose the deduction if the IRS questions it.

Volunteer Expenses

The value of your time is not deductible, but unreimbursed out-of-pocket costs tied to volunteer work for a qualified charity are. That includes supplies you buy for the organization, uniforms required for volunteering that are not suitable for everyday wear, and travel expenses like airfare and lodging for charity-related trips.¹¹ If you drive your own car for volunteer work, you can deduct 14 cents per mile for 2026 instead of tracking gas costs.¹²

Casualty and Theft Losses

Personal casualty and theft losses are deductible only if they result from a federally declared disaster or a state-declared disaster.¹³ A house fire, hurricane, tornado, or major flood in a declared disaster area qualifies. A stolen bicycle or a parking lot fender-bender does not. Two financial hurdles apply:

$500 per event: subtract $500 from each individual loss before it counts.¹³
10 percent of AGI: after the per-event reduction, total net losses for the year are deductible only to the extent they exceed 10 percent of your AGI.

You report losses on Form 4684 and can either claim the loss on the return for the year the disaster occurred or amend the prior year’s return, which can get money back faster.¹⁴ The deadline for that election is six months after the regular filing due date of the disaster year.

Gambling Losses

You can deduct gambling losses, but only if you itemize, and only up to the amount of gambling winnings you report as income.¹⁵ Win $8,000 at a casino and lose $10,000 over the year, and your deduction is capped at $8,000. You cannot use gambling losses to create a net loss or offset other income. Starting in 2026, the deduction is further limited to 90 percent of your losses, so the same taxpayer could deduct only $7,200 (90 percent of $8,000). Unused gambling losses do not carry forward.

Record-keeping matters more here than in almost any other category. The IRS expects a contemporaneous log of wins and losses, including dates, types of wagers, names of establishments, and amounts. Without that, the deduction is easy to lose in an audit.

Is Itemizing Worth It?

The decision is pure math. Add up your deductible expenses in every category above and compare the total to the standard deduction for your filing status: $16,100 single, $32,200 married filing jointly, $24,150 head of household.¹ If your total exceeds the standard deduction, itemize. If not, take the standard deduction and skip the paperwork.

The most common winning scenario: a homeowner with a sizable mortgage and high state income or property taxes. Between mortgage interest and the higher $40,400 SALT cap, those two categories alone can push past the standard deduction for many taxpayers. A few thousand in charitable gifts or a big medical year widens the gap. People who rent, live in low-tax states, and do not give heavily to charity rarely benefit from itemizing.

How to Claim Itemized Deductions

All itemized deductions go on Schedule A of Form 1040.¹⁶ Each category has its own section on the form: medical expenses, taxes paid, interest, charitable gifts, casualty losses, and other deductions. You total each category, enter the amounts on the corresponding lines, and the final sum transfers to your 1040.¹⁷

Before you start, gather the paperwork: Form 1098 from your mortgage lender showing interest paid, property tax statements from your county, medical bills and insurance explanation-of-benefits statements, and receipts or bank statements for charitable donations. For non-cash donations over $500, you will also need a completed Form 8283.¹⁰ Most tax software walks you through each category and generates Schedule A automatically, but the underlying math is the same on paper.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Rev. Proc. 2025-32
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 213 – Medical, Dental, Etc., Expenses
3
eCFR. 26 CFR 1.213-1 – Medical, Dental, Etc., Expenses
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 164 – Taxes
5
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 163 – Interest
7
Internal Revenue Service. Investment Interest Expense Deduction (Form 4952)
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 170 – Charitable, Etc., Contributions and Gifts
9
Internal Revenue Service. Charitable Contributions
10
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8283
11
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 526, Charitable Contributions
12
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Sets 2026 Business Standard Mileage Rate
13
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 165 – Losses
14
Internal Revenue Service. FAQs for Disaster Victims
15
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 419, Gambling Income and Losses
16
Internal Revenue Service. About Schedule A (Form 1040), Itemized Deductions
17
Internal Revenue Service. Schedule A (Form 1040)