표준 공제 vs 항목별 공제: 무엇을 선택해야 하나요?
Standard Deduction Overview
The standard deduction is a flat dollar amount that reduces your taxable income — no receipts or documentation required. For 2026, the standard deduction is approximately $15,000 for single filers, $30,000 for married filing jointly, and $22,500 for head of household. Additional amounts are available for taxpayers age 65+ or blind. About 87% of taxpayers now take the standard deduction, up from about 70% before the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act nearly doubled it in 2018.
Common Itemized Deductions
Itemized deductions include: 1) State and local taxes (SALT) — income, property, and sales taxes, capped at $10,000 per return. 2) Mortgage interest — on up to $750,000 of acquisition debt for homes purchased after 2017. 3) Charitable contributions — generally up to 60% of AGI for cash donations to qualified organizations. 4) Medical and dental expenses — the portion exceeding 7.5% of AGI. 5) Casualty and theft losses — limited to federally declared disasters.
How to Decide Which to Take
Compare your total itemized deductions to the standard deduction for your filing status. If itemized deductions exceed the standard deduction, itemizing lowers your tax bill more. Key scenarios where itemizing makes sense: you have a large mortgage with significant interest, you make substantial charitable contributions, you have high medical expenses relative to income, or you live in a high-tax state and pay significant state income and property taxes (subject to the SALT cap).
The SALT Deduction Cap and Workarounds
The $10,000 cap on state and local tax deductions ($5,000 for married filing separately) is one of the most impactful limits in the tax code. High-income taxpayers in high-tax states are most affected. Some states have enacted pass-through entity (PTE) tax election workarounds that allow business owners to pay state taxes at the entity level and deduct them federally. The SALT cap is scheduled to expire after 2025 unless Congress extends it — which could significantly change the standard-vs-itemized calculation.
Bunching Strategy for Deductions
If your itemized deductions are just below the standard deduction threshold, consider 'bunching' — concentrating deductible expenses into a single year to exceed the threshold, then taking the standard deduction in alternating years. This works well with charitable contributions (using a donor-advised fund to front-load giving) and medical expenses (scheduling elective procedures in a single year). Timing mortgage payments and property taxes can also help bunch deductions strategically.