If you take the standard deduction on your tax return, you could be overpaying Uncle Sam. House Majority Leader Dick Armey asked the auditing agency to look into the issue of taxpayers cheating themselves by claiming the standard deduction instead of itemizing expenses.
Filers have a choice of which deduction method they use to reduce their taxable income.
The standard deduction is established each year, based on a taxpayer's filing status. Itemized deductions rely on allowable expenses that a taxpayer reports on Schedule A. Tax law lets taxpayers claim whichever amount is larger. But on the 1998 returns examined by the GAO, filers didn't necessarily think bigger was better. Some in Congress suspect that's still the case now. IRS statistics regularly show itemizing filers in the minority, with most taxpayers opting for the simpler standard deduction.