Standard deduction or Itemize

The standard deduction was significantly increased to $24,000 for  2018 joint tax returns making many taxpayers decide to no longer itemize and track such deductible expenses as charitable contributions, mortgage interest and property taxes. For Georgia, you have to follow whatever you did on the federal return which caused an interesting situation where it is better to itemize overall even if it isn't better on the federal return. The break-even point on a joint return is about $20,000 in itemized deductions. If you have over $20,000 in itemized deductions, it is usually better to itemize.