What Is Schedule A: Itemized Deductions on Form 1040

Schedule A is the IRS form you attach to Form 1040 when you itemize deductions instead of claiming the standard deduction. Using Schedule A for itemized deductions lets you subtract specific personal expenses—medical bills, state and local taxes, mortgage interest, charitable gifts, and certain disaster and gambling losses—from your taxable income. It only pays off if those expenses add up to more than the standard deduction for your filing status. For 2026, that baseline is $16,100 for single filers, $32,200 for married couples filing jointly, and $24,150 for heads of household.¹

When Itemizing Beats the Standard Deduction

You pick one or the other each year, not both. The standard deduction is a flat number tied to your filing status. If you are 65 or older or blind, you get an additional $2,050 (single or head of household) or $1,650 per qualifying condition (married filers), and those add-ons double if you are both 65 or older and blind.¹

Total up your likely itemized deductions before deciding. Homeowners paying real mortgage interest and property taxes, people with large unreimbursed medical bills, and generous donors are the filers most likely to come out ahead by itemizing. If your total falls short of the standard deduction, the standard deduction gives you a bigger tax break and less paperwork.

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% of your adjusted gross income.² With an AGI of $60,000, the first $4,500 of expenses does nothing for you; only what comes after that counts.

Qualifying costs cover doctor visits, surgeries, dental work like fillings and cleanings, prescription eyeglasses and contact lenses, lab fees, diagnostic tests, and prescription medications. Purely cosmetic procedures generally do not qualify.³

Travel to get care counts too. You can claim actual out-of-pocket costs like gas and tolls, or use the IRS medical mileage rate of 20.5 cents per mile for 2026.⁴ Parking, tolls, and bus, taxi, train, or plane fares taken for medical care also qualify.³

State and Local Taxes (SALT)

Schedule A lets you deduct state and local income taxes (or general sales taxes, if you pick that route), real property taxes, and personal property taxes.⁵ The total is capped.

Under changes made by the One, Big, Beautiful Bill, the SALT cap rose from $10,000 to $40,000 beginning in 2025, with a 1% annual increase through 2029. That puts the 2026 cap at roughly $40,400. Married couples filing separately get half. The cap phases down for higher earners: if your modified adjusted gross income tops $500,000 (indexed), the cap drops by 30 cents for every dollar above that, with a $10,000 floor.⁵

You must choose between deducting state and local income taxes or general sales taxes. You can’t take both. If you live in a state without an income tax, the sales tax option is usually the better pick, and you can use either actual receipts or the IRS tables to calculate it.⁶

Mortgage Interest and Points

Homeowners can deduct interest on mortgage debt secured by a primary or secondary residence. For loans taken out after December 15, 2017, the deduction applies to balances up to $750,000 ($375,000 if married filing separately). Mortgages originated on or before that date follow the older $1,000,000 limit.⁷

Interest on a home equity loan or HELOC is deductible only if the borrowed money was used to buy, build, or substantially improve the home securing the loan. Use a HELOC to pay off credit cards or cover other personal expenses, and that interest doesn’t qualify.⁸

Points paid at closing on a home purchase are essentially prepaid interest and can be deducted in the year paid if they meet IRS requirements. Your lender reports the year’s interest and points on Form 1098, which you use to fill in this section.

Charitable Contributions

Donations to qualified tax-exempt organizations are deductible, but the rules split by whether you gave cash or property.⁹

Cash Gifts

Keep a bank statement or written receipt showing the organization’s name, the date, and the amount. Any single cash gift of $250 or more requires a written acknowledgment from the charity before you file. Cash donations to public charities are generally deductible up to 60% of AGI; contributions to certain private foundations are limited to 30% of AGI.¹⁰

Donated Property

Property gifts—clothing, furniture, electronics, appliances—are valued at fair market value, roughly what a willing buyer would pay in the item’s current condition. Clothing and household items have to be in good used condition or better. If you claim more than $500 for a single item that isn’t in good used condition, you need a qualified appraisal and Form 8283.¹¹

Checking the Charity

Not every organization that asks for money is eligible for deductible contributions. Before you give, run the group through the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search by name or EIN to confirm it’s listed.¹²

Casualty, Theft, and Gambling Losses

Personal casualty and theft losses are deductible only when they result from a federally declared or state-declared disaster. A burst pipe or a car break-in outside a declared disaster area doesn’t qualify. Each event must produce a loss over $500, and your total net casualty losses for the year must exceed 10% of AGI before anything comes off your taxes.¹³ You calculate the loss on Form 4684 and carry the result to Schedule A.

Gambling losses are deductible only up to the gambling winnings you report as income. Win $2,000 and lose $5,000, and you can deduct $2,000. Keep a detailed record of wins and losses to back up the number.¹⁴

Deductions You Cannot Claim Anymore

Before 2018, filers could deduct a broad category of miscellaneous itemized deductions that exceeded 2% of AGI: unreimbursed employee expenses like work travel, uniforms, union dues, and an employee home office, plus tax preparation and investment advisory fees. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act suspended those deductions, and the One, Big, Beautiful Bill made the elimination permanent. They will not return for 2026 or later.

Overall Cap for Top-Bracket Filers

Starting in 2026, a new overall limitation trims itemized deductions for taxpayers with income above the 37% bracket threshold. If your income clears that line, your total itemized deductions get reduced by 2/37 of the lesser of those deductions or the amount your income exceeds the bracket threshold, applied after every other category-specific floor and cap. For most filers, this changes nothing.

Filing Schedule A

Schedule A (Form 1040) runs from Line 1 through Line 17 and is available on the IRS website.¹⁵ Pull together your paperwork before you start:

Form 1098 from your mortgage lender for interest and points
Medical receipts, insurance statements, and pharmacy records for unreimbursed costs
Property tax bills from your local tax authority
Acknowledgment letters and bank records for charitable donations
Form 4684 if you’re claiming casualty or theft losses from a declared disaster

Fill in each section, total everything on Line 17, and carry that number to Form 1040.¹⁶ E-filing software handles the attachment for you; on a paper return, place Schedule A directly behind Form 1040.

Keeping Records After You File

Hold on to the receipts, statements, and other paperwork that back up your itemized deductions for at least three years from the date you filed. If the IRS ever asks questions, those documents are your evidence that the numbers on Schedule A were real.¹⁷

1
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 213 – Medical, Dental, Etc., Expenses
3
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 502 – Medical and Dental Expenses
4
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Sets 2026 Standard Mileage Rates
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 164 – Taxes
6
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 503 – Deductible Taxes
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 163 – Interest
8
Internal Revenue Service. Real Estate Taxes, Mortgage Interest, Points, Other Property Expenses
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 170 – Charitable, Etc., Contributions and Gifts
10
Internal Revenue Service. Charitable Contribution Deductions
11
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 561 – Determining the Value of Donated Property
12
Internal Revenue Service. Search for Tax Exempt Organizations
13
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 165 – Losses
14
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 419 – Gambling Income and Losses
15
Internal Revenue Service. About Schedule A (Form 1040), Itemized Deductions
16
Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Schedule A (Form 1040) Itemized Deductions
17
Internal Revenue Service. How Long Should I Keep Records?