Senate Passes Sweeping Republican Tax Overhaul Bill

[DenverGP]

That's not the way it was explained when we bought. They intimated that it's a separate thing from itemizing. Had I known it's not, I would not have purchased. I have no reason to itemize that I'm aware of...

With a standard deduction, it's not like there's a refund of the difference between owed and the full amount, right? So I don't see how this is in any way beneficial to me.

Until this new tax change, the mortgage interest on most homes (certainly any in the denver area) was a large enough amount to instantly give you a benefit from using the itemized deductions.

In my case, I had just 3 itemized deductions : mortgage interest, state/property taxes, and charitable contribs. Mortgage interest accounted for most of it. I think my itemized deductions on my 2016 taxes were around 18k, compared to the old standard deduction of $12,600 for married couples.

In 2018, the married standard deduction will be $24,000 for married couples, so I'm getting an extra 6k worth of deduction from the new standard deduction.

And it's one less form to fill out when doing my taxes, and less records to worry about.

It feels like I'm getting screwed because I'm not benefiting from my mortgage interest, but I'm still coming out ahead.