 Income tax 2023-2024. Itemized deductions, state and local real estate taxes. Get ready and some coffee so we can recognize the code cracks when doing income tax preparation 2023-2024. Most of this information can be found in the instructions for Schedule A Tax Share 2023 which you can find on the IRS website at irs.gov irs.gov looking at the income tax formula we're focused on what I would call the below the line deductions more specifically the itemized deductions remembering the first half of the income tax formula is basically a funny income statement most income statements having income minus expenses resulting in net income here having income minus various deductions resulting in taxable income noting for taxes deductions good therefore we're looking for more of them the difference between the above the line deductions or adjustments to income and the below the line deductions include the fact that the adjustments to income do not have to clear a hurdle such as the standard deduction before we get a benefit from them whereas when we're looking at the itemized deductions they do typically have to clear the hurdle of the standard deduction before they benefit us as taxpayers looking at the first page of the form 1040 we're focused on line number 12 standard deduction or itemized deduction we're focused on the itemized deduction which we would take if it's greater than the standard deduction and if that were the case we would include the schedule a the schedule a is the itemized deduction