How do I enter deductions?

Use the Deductions page in the Tax Planner to enter your itemized deductions and to set the conditions that affect your standard deduction. You can itemize deductions such as medical expenses, state and local taxes, mortgage interest, and charitable contributions, or you can take the standard deduction. The Tax Planner compares the two amounts and uses the larger one. If you don’t enter any itemized deductions, the Tax Planner uses the standard deduction.

Enter itemized deductions

Enter each deduction for the tax year you selected in the Tax Planner.

1. Select Planning > Tax Center, and then click Show Tax Planner.

2. On the left side of the page, select Deductions. Quicken displays the Standard and Itemized Deductions page.

3. In the Medical and Dental Expense field, enter the unreimbursed medical expenses you paid during the tax year for yourself, your spouse, and your dependents. Deductible expenses usually include prescription drugs, doctor and hospital fees, ambulance and travel costs for medical care, health insurance premiums, X-ray and lab fees, nursing fees, and Medicare Part B premiums. Cosmetic surgery that doesn’t serve a medical purpose isn’t deductible.

4. In the Allowable Medical Deduction field, verify the amount. The Tax Planner calculates the portion of your medical expenses that exceeds 7.5 percent of your adjusted gross income (AGI), which appears in the Income area.

5. Click the State & Local Income Tax link, enter the payroll information for yourself and your spouse (if applicable), and then click Previous. For details about each field, see State and local income tax fields below.

6. In the Real Estate and Other Taxes field, enter the taxes you paid on real estate you own that you don’t use for business. If your mortgage payment includes real estate taxes, your lender usually sends a year-end statement that shows the tax payments it made on your behalf. The Tax Planner applies the state and local tax (SALT) cap to the combined total of this field and your state and local income taxes. For more information, see About the SALT deduction cap below.

7. In the Deductible Investment Interest field, enter the allowable investment interest deduction you calculated on IRS Form 4952, if you have investment interest expense.

8. In the Mortgage & Other Deductible Interest field, enter the interest you paid on a home mortgage secured by your main home or second home. Include first and second mortgages, home equity loans, and refinanced mortgages. For other interest you can include, see the IRS publications for the tax year.

9. In the Charitable Contributions field, enter the full amount of your charitable contributions. The Tax Planner limits the deduction to 60 percent of your AGI. All cash donations require written documentation. For details, see About charitable contributions below, IRS Publication 526, Charitable Contributions, or your tax professional.

10. In the Misc. Deductions field, you can enter employee business expenses from federal Form 2106 and similar expenses such as tax preparation fees, union dues, and investment fees. Federal law suspends these deductions, so this field has no effect on your tax estimate. The Tax Planner adds the amount to your itemized deductions and then removes it in the limitations field.

11. In the Less: State and Local Tax and Other Deduction Limitations field, verify the value. For more information, see About the deduction limitations field below.

12. In the Misc. Deductions (No Limit) field, enter miscellaneous deductions that aren’t subject to an AGI limit, such as gambling losses up to the amount of your gambling winnings, casualty and theft losses from income-producing property, amortizable premium on taxable bonds acquired before 10/23/86, and impairment-related work expenses if you have a disability. For more information, see IRS Publication 529.

13. In the Total Itemized Deductions field, verify the amount. If this amount is larger than your standard deduction, the Tax Planner uses it as your deduction.

State and local income tax fields

The State & Local Income Tax page contains the following fields.

• Withholdings (or Withholdings to Date): The total state and local tax withheld to date. If the Tax Planner calculates your data from recorded transactions, scheduled transactions, or year-to-date data, this field shows a total for the full year.

• Next Pay Date: The date of your next paycheck. If the Tax Planner uses a scheduled paycheck transaction, it fills in this date. Otherwise, it chooses the next likely date based on your Pay Period selection.

• Pay Period: How often you get paid (Every two weeks, Twice/month, Monthly, or Weekly). If you use Quicken data as your data source, the Tax Planner fills in this field.

• Withholding per Pay Period: The state and local taxes withheld from each paycheck. If you set up your paycheck as a scheduled transaction, this field shows Sched: Included. If the Tax Planner estimates your income from year-to-date amounts, it shows Proj. Included.

• Estimated Taxes Paid to Date plus Projected Payments Through Year-End: The estimated tax payments you’ve made this year, plus any payments you plan to make before year-end.

• Tax Payments this Year for Last Year’s State Tax: State tax you pay this year for an earlier tax year. For example, if you owed state tax when you filed last year’s return in April, you can deduct that payment on this year’s federal return.

• Total Tax Payments to Date plus Projected Withholding Through Year-End: The Tax Planner calculates this field.

About the SALT deduction cap

Federal law limits the amount of state and local taxes you can deduct. The cap applies to the combined total of your state and local income taxes and your real estate and other taxes.

For tax years 2025 through 2029, the cap is $40,000 or more and increases slightly each year. Married taxpayers who file separately have half the cap. The cap drops by 30 percent of your income above an annual threshold, but it doesn’t drop below $10,000 ($5,000 if married filing separately). Starting in 2030, the cap returns to $10,000. For the cap and income threshold that apply to a specific tax year, see the Instructions for Schedule A (Form 1040) on the IRS website.

The Tax Planner applies the cap automatically for the tax year you select. To calculate the phase-down, the Tax Planner uses your AGI. Federal law uses modified adjusted gross income (MAGI), but the two amounts are the same for most taxpayers.

About charitable contributions

The Tax Planner applies a single limit of 60 percent of your AGI to the full Charitable Contributions amount. It doesn’t model the lower limits that apply to some donations, such as appreciated property or gifts to private foundations, and it doesn’t track carryforwards of unused contributions. If those situations apply to you, consult your tax professional.

Starting with tax year 2026, two additional rules apply:

• If you itemize, the Tax Planner reduces your charitable deduction by 0.5 percent of your AGI after it applies the 60 percent limit.

• If you take the standard deduction, the Tax Planner adds up to $1,000 of your charitable contributions ($2,000 if married filing jointly) to your standard deduction.

About the deduction limitations field

The Less: State and Local Tax and Other Deduction Limitations field shows the total amount the Tax Planner removes from your itemized deductions. This total includes:

• Charitable contributions above the 60 percent of AGI limit, plus the 0.5 percent of AGI reduction starting with tax year 2026

• The full Misc. Deductions amount

• State and local taxes above the SALT cap

• Starting with tax year 2026, a reduction for taxpayers in the 37 percent tax bracket equal to 2/37 of the lesser of their remaining itemized deductions or their income above the 37 percent bracket threshold

The 7.5 percent of AGI limit on medical expenses isn’t part of this field. The Tax Planner applies it in the Allowable Medical Deduction field.

Set standard deduction options

The Tax Planner calculates your standard deduction automatically based on your filing status. Select any of the following check boxes in the Standard Deduction area that apply to you.

• Taxpayer can be claimed as a dependent on another return: Select this check box if a parent or another person claims you as a dependent on their tax return.

• Blind: Select the check box for you, your spouse, or both.

• 65 or older: Select the check box if you or your spouse will be 65 or older on January 1 of next year.

The Larger of Itemized or Standard + Applicable Senior/Charitable Deduction field shows the larger of your total itemized deductions and your standard deduction, plus any senior or charitable deduction that applies. Using the larger amount results in a lower tax liability.