How to Know If You Itemized Deductions Last Year: Form 1040 Line 12

To know if you itemized deductions last year, pull out your filed Form 1040 and look at Line 12. If the number there matches the standard deduction for your filing status, you took the standard deduction. Any other amount, paired with a Schedule A attached to the return, means you itemized.

Match Line 12 to the Standard Deduction

On the 2025 Form 1040, your total deduction appears on Line 12, labeled “Standard deduction or itemized deductions (from Schedule A).”1Internal Revenue Service. Form 1040 – U.S. Individual Income Tax Return Older forms use slightly different line designations, but the deduction amount always sits in the Line 12 area.

Compare that number against the standard deduction for your filing status in the year you’re checking. For tax year 2025:

An exact match means the standard deduction. A quick shortcut: standard deduction amounts almost always end in round numbers, so a Line 12 figure ending in something like 37 or 82 is a strong signal you itemized.

The definitive confirmation is whether Schedule A was filed with the return. Schedule A is titled “Itemized Deductions,” and it must accompany the 1040 whenever a taxpayer itemizes.3Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Schedule A (Form 1040) (2025) Schedule A in your records means you itemized. No Schedule A means you did not.

Age, Blindness, and Senior Add-Ons

The standard deduction is higher if you or your spouse were 65 or older, or legally blind, at the end of the tax year. For 2025, the additional amount is $1,600 per qualifying person, or $2,000 if you were also unmarried and not a surviving spouse.4Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 551, Standard Deduction A married couple filing jointly where both spouses are over 65 would have a 2025 standard deduction of $34,700, which looks non-standard but is still the standard deduction.

Starting with tax year 2025, an additional deduction of up to $6,000 per eligible person aged 65 or older ($12,000 for joint filers where both qualify) is also available. Unlike the regular standard deduction, this one applies whether you itemize or not.5Internal Revenue Service. 2026 Filing Season Updates and Resources for Seniors So if you’re checking an older parent’s or spouse’s return, a Line 12 number well above the base standard deduction doesn’t automatically mean Schedule A. Add the age, blindness, and senior amounts to the base figure before deciding.

If You Don’t Have a Copy of the Return

Most people file electronically through software like TurboTax, H&R Block, or FreeTaxUSA. Your prior-year return is almost certainly still accessible through your account. Log in, pull the PDF, and check Line 12 and whether Schedule A is attached. If a paid preparer handled the return, their office should also have a copy.

If neither route works, request a Tax Return Transcript from the IRS. The transcript shows the key line items from your filed Form 1040, including the Line 12 deduction amount.

The fastest option is the IRS “Get Transcript Online” tool. You verify your identity through ID.me using a government-issued photo ID and a selfie taken with your phone or webcam, and the transcript loads immediately on screen.6Internal Revenue Service. Get Your Tax Records and Transcripts If online verification doesn’t work, you have two backups:

Why the Answer Matters: Your State Tax Refund

The most common reason to check last year’s method is the state tax refund sitting in your bank account. If you took the standard deduction, that refund is not taxable income on your federal return. If you itemized and claimed a deduction for state income taxes, the IRS expects you to report some or all of the refund as income this year.

The logic: when you deducted state taxes on Schedule A, you got a tax benefit from that deduction. If the state later refunds part of those taxes, the IRS treats the refund as a recovery of a deduction you already claimed, and recovered amounts that reduced your tax in a prior year get added back to gross income.

If you received a Form 1099-G from your state showing a tax refund, you only need to report it as federal income if you itemized the year you paid those taxes. Standard deduction filers can ignore the 1099-G for federal purposes.

One Note If You File Separately from Your Spouse

When spouses file separate returns, federal rules require both of them to use the same deduction method. If one spouse itemizes, the other must also itemize, even when the standard deduction would produce a better result for that spouse.9Internal Revenue Service. Other Deduction Questions So if you’re trying to figure out what you did last year and you filed married filing separately, your spouse’s Schedule A settles the question for you too.

Fixing a Wrong Deduction Method

If you discover you used the wrong method on a prior return, you can correct it by filing Form 1040-X, the amended return. This works in both directions: switching from standard to itemized to claim a refund, or from itemized to standard if you claimed deductions you weren’t entitled to. You can file 1040-X electronically through tax software or on paper.10Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1040-X

The deadline to claim a refund through an amended return is three years from the date you filed the original return, or two years from the date you paid the tax, whichever is later.11Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 308, Amended Returns If you owe additional tax because you itemized deductions you shouldn’t have, filing sooner limits the interest that accrues.