Should I itemize or use standard deduction when I paid cash for a car?

Sales tax paid on a vehicle purchase can be deductible, but there are some important things to understand here. First, you can't deduct the cost of the car itself - only the sales tax you paid on it. And to deduct sales tax, you must itemize deductions on Schedule A rather than taking the standard deduction. For 2025, the standard deduction is $13,850 for single filers and $27,700 for married filing jointly. Unless your total itemized deductions (including state/local taxes, mortgage interest, charitable contributions, etc.) exceed these amounts, you're usually better off taking the standard deduction. The sales tax on a $13,500 car would typically be around $800-1,350 depending on your location's tax rate, which alone isn't enough to exceed the standard deduction. You'd need other significant deductions to make itemizing worthwhile.

I was in a similar situation last year and found this amazing tool called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that helped me figure out whether to itemize or take the standard deduction. I was confused because I'd bought a truck and wasn't sure how to handle the sales tax. The tool analyzed my receipts and tax documents, then showed me that even with the vehicle sales tax, I was still better off taking the standard deduction by about $4,000. It saved me from doing all that extra paperwork for nothing! It also explained exactly why the standard deduction was better in my case, which helped me understand my tax situation better.

Guys! I tried that taxr.ai thing mentioned above and it was actually really helpful for my situation. I had a similar question about my car purchase and whether to itemize. I uploaded my car purchase documents, property tax statement, and some donation receipts. It analyzed everything and clearly showed me that I was about $2,200 short of reaching the point where itemizing would make sense. Saved me from doing all that extra paperwork for Schedule A when it wouldn't have benefited me. It even suggested some areas where I might find additional deductions if I wanted to try reaching the itemization threshold. The receipt scanning feature is pretty slick too - way better than manually entering everything.

If you're struggling to reach someone at the IRS to ask about your car purchase deduction question, you might want to check out Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). They have a service that gets you through to an actual IRS representative without the endless hold times. There's a video showing how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I used it after waiting on hold for literally 3 hours trying to get answers about vehicle sales tax deductions. Claimyr got me connected to a real person at the IRS in about 20 minutes, and I got a clear explanation that in my case, the standard deduction was still better even with my car purchase.

I'm actually shocked but I have to admit I was wrong about Claimyr. After dismissing it as a probable scam, I was desperate to get an answer about my vehicle tax deduction situation before the filing deadline. I reluctantly gave it a try, fully expecting to waste my money. It actually worked exactly as advertised. I got a text when my turn was coming up, and within 25 minutes I was talking to an actual IRS agent who answered my specific questions about vehicle sales tax deductions. She confirmed that in my situation with a $15k car purchase, I was still about $9k short of making itemizing worthwhile. Saved me from making a mistake on my return and potentially getting flagged for an audit. Consider me converted from skeptic to believer.

Doesn't sales tax from a car purchase count toward the SALT deduction? I thought there was a $10k limit on state and local tax deductions combined.

Has anyone used the IRS sales tax deduction calculator? It lets you add major purchases like cars separately rather than keeping all those receipts for the year.

Great question! I was in a similar boat last year. The key thing to remember is that you can only deduct the sales tax you paid on the car, not the $13,500 purchase price itself. Here's what I learned: vehicle sales tax gets lumped in with your other state and local taxes (SALT), which are capped at $10,000 total when itemizing. So even if your car sales tax was $1,000, you'd need your total itemized deductions (including that sales tax, property taxes, mortgage interest, charitable donations, etc.) to exceed the standard deduction to make it worthwhile. For most people buying one car, the standard deduction ends up being the better choice. But definitely run the numbers - if you have significant mortgage interest, property taxes, or made large charitable contributions this year, itemizing might work out better for you. The IRS website has a good worksheet to help you compare, or you could use tax software that will automatically calculate both scenarios and pick the better one for you.