With Tax Day—April 15—just over two weeks away, now is the time to get your paperwork in order. A good starting point is a tax organizer or checklist, which can help you track income, investment interest, and charitable contributions in one place. Tax checklists are widely available online, and if you work with an accountant, they may already send you one, often pre-populated with your prior year’s data.
Standard deduction or itemize?
One of the first decisions every filer faces is whether to take the standard deduction or itemize. For the 2025 tax year, the standard deduction is $15,750 for single filers and married couples filing separately, $31,500 for married couples filing jointly, and $23,625 for heads of household. About 90% of taxpayers take the standard deduction — and for good reason, since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act nearly doubled it in 2018. But if you have significant mortgage interest, state and local taxes, or medical expenses, it’s worth running the numbers both ways; most tax software will do this automatically.
If you do itemize, you’ll need to gather supporting documents for deductible expenses such as mortgage interest, state and local taxes, and medical costs exceeding 7.5 percent of your adjusted gross income. One notable 2025 development: even filers who take the standard deduction can now deduct charitable donations — up to $1,000 for single filers or $2,000 for joint filers — so don’t overlook your giving records regardless of which route you choose.
A significant break for seniors
Older Americans have particular reason to pay attention this year. Elizabeth Ruh of Personal Financial Services in Bloomington, Indiana, notes that seniors stand to benefit from a substantial new deduction.
“I have seen a lot of seniors benefit from the senior deduction — if they’re 65, they’re eligible for up to $6,000 of an additional deduction,” Ruh said, per Indiana Public Media.
That $6,000 bonus, introduced under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, is available for the 2025 through 2028 tax years. It does phase out for higher earners: the deduction is reduced by 6 percent for every dollar above $75,000 in adjusted gross income for individual filers, or $150,000 for joint filers. Seniors also qualify for a separate, older benefit: an additional standard deduction of $2,000 for single and head-of-household filers, or $1,600 per person for joint filers. These two senior benefits are distinct and can stack.
Filers should also review paperwork related to their investment accounts. Those hoping to deduct IRA contributions on this year’s return have until April 15 to make them—the IRS does not extend this deadline even if you file for a tax extension. For 2025, the contribution limit is $7,000 for those under 50, or $8,000 for those 50 and older.
A potential refund from the pandemic years
Finally, some filers (particularly those who paid IRS penalties or interest between 2020 and 2023) may be sitting on an overlooked refund opportunity. In Kwong v. United States, decided in November 2025, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims held that pandemic disaster relief provisions automatically suspended certain federal tax deadlines from January 20, 2020, through July 10, 2023. If that interpretation holds, taxpayers who were charged failure-to-file or failure-to-pay penalties, or underpayment interest, during that window may have grounds to seek a refund or abatement — with potentially significant amounts at stake, especially for businesses that faced cash-flow challenges during lockdowns.
The deadline to file a claim is July 10, 2026. Tax experts recommend starting by pulling your IRS account transcripts to check for pandemic-era charges, then filing Form 843 citing Kwong and Section 7508A(d) of the tax code. Note that the government may yet appeal the decision, so consulting a tax professional before filing a claim is advisable.
