Beginning with tax year 2018, the Tax Law allows you to itemize your deductions for New York State income tax purposes whether or not you itemized your deductions on your federal income tax return. See TSB-M-18(6)I, New York State Decouples from Certain Personal Income Tax Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Changes for 2018 and after, for more information on this change.
In general, your New York itemized deductions are computed using the federal rules as they existed prior to the changes made to the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (Public Law 115-97).
New York State itemized deductions are reported on Form IT-196, New York Resident, Nonresident, and Part-Year Resident Itemized Deductions. For certain New York itemized deduction computations, the instructions for Form IT-196 may refer you to this webpage for additional information or instruction.
We briefly describe the difference between federal and New York State itemized deduction rules below. In addition, we provide links to specific current and prior year Internal Revenue Service (IRS) forms and publications to help you compute your New York itemized deductions.
Note: The information in the links below should be used in addition to the 2021 Form IT-196, New York Resident, Nonresident, and Part-Year Resident Itemized Deductions, and its instructions.
For federal purposes, your total itemized deduction for state and local taxes paid in 2021 is limited to a combined amount not to exceed $10,000 ($5,000 if married filing separate). In addition, you can no longer deduct foreign taxes you paid on real estate. For New York purposes (Form IT-196, lines 5, 6, and 7), your state and local taxes paid in 2021 are not subject to the federal limit and you can deduct foreign taxes you paid on real estate (Form IT-196, line 8).
For specific information, see:
2017 federal Schedule A instructions for lines 5 through 8
For federal purposes, the itemized deduction rules for home mortgage and home equity interest you paid in 2021 have changed from what was allowed as a deduction for tax year 2017. For New York purposes (Form IT-196, lines 10 and 11), these changes do not apply.
For specific information, see:
2017 federal Schedule A instructions for lines 10, 11, and 12
For New York purposes (Form IT-196, lines 16 through 18), your New York itemized deduction for gifts to charity is computed using the federal rules that applied to tax year 2021.
For specific information on charitable contributions, see:
2021 federal Schedule A instructions for lines 11, 12, and 13
For federal purposes, you can no longer claim an itemized deduction for a casualty or theft loss unless it is the result of a federally declared disaster. For New York purposes (Form IT-196, line 20), you can claim casualty and theft losses. However, for a casualty loss that is the result of certain federally declared disasters (Form IT-196, line 37), see Other miscellaneous deductions, below.
page 749, provides an optional safe harbor method for eligible taxpayers to deduct theft losses from criminally fraudulent investment arrangements that take the form of "Ponzi" schemes
For federal purposes, you can no longer claim an itemized deduction for job expenses and certain miscellaneous deductions that were subject to the 2 percent of FAGI limitation. For New York purposes (Form IT-196, lines 21 through 24), you can claim these deductions:
For federal purposes, the rules for deducting gambling losses have changed. For New York income tax purposes, gambling loss deductions are limited to the amount of gambling income reported on your return. Other itemized deductions are claimed on Form IT-196, lines 29 through 37.