<prompt> Human: This is mostly concerning our 2017 taxes:We purchased a house in 2016. I understand that interest and property tax are deductible. Our combined monthly interesttax will be about 1400month 16800year. I imagine it makes sense to itemize deductions for 2017,since wed be above the standard? It would also make sense to make, and claim, donations?As for 2016 taxes, itemizing wouldnt do anything for us since wed have paid only 4000 in interesttaxes? Just making sure I understand how the standard deduction works.  <response>: Yeah, that seems correct. If youre married filing joint, you need over the 12,600 on Schedule A deductions to save any money by itemizing. So if your taxable income is in the 25 bracket, you will save 16,800 - 12,60025 vs if you didnt pay any interesttaxes that number goes to 12,700 for 2017 taxes.Once you clear that threshold, then any other Schedule A deductions well, most of them save you that 25 on the dollar. So making a tax-deductible donation of 1,000 gets you 250 back.Also note origination points is also deductible, so fill out the Schedule A just in case you somehow get over that std deduction. 