Standard or Itemized Deductions: What's the Right Call for You?

Your goal in filing your taxes should be to report your income accurately to avoid problems with the IRS -- but it should also be to score the highest refund as possible, or pay the IRS as little as possible. To that end, you'll need to figure out whether it pays to itemize on your upcoming tax return or claim the standard deduction. Here's how to make that call.

First, let's get one thing out of the way. Itemizing won't increase your chances of getting audited if you do so wisely and limit yourself to legitimate deductions. For example, if you claim a $12,000 mortgage interest deduction because that's what you paid your lender last year, the IRS isn't going to penalize you.

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Source Fool.com