As the end of the year nears, clients are once again starting to think about their tax returns. Now more than ever, qualified financial advisors should be ready to provide some information on the choices taxpayers must make.

For example, clients often ask whether they should itemize or take the standard deduction. Recent legal changes make the standard deduction a better deal for many individuals who usually itemize their outlays for charitable contributions, medical expenses and mortgage interests. These changes require planners to do some precise calculations before they can determine whether clients should base end-of-year tactics on claiming the liberalized standard deduction or itemizing.

The law now permits taxpayers to use one method or the other, but not both. Which is more advantageous? Often the answer to this question is neither straightforward nor simple. It depends on an individual's particular situation and might be a close call in one year and different in another, given the nondeductible floors for several categories of itemized deductibles and other variables, as outlined below.

Here is the ultimate test for when it is worthwhile to forget the no-questions-asked standard deduction and do the recordkeeping required of itemizers: Only when total itemized deductions surpass the standard deduction—an amount that is based on variables, such as filing status and age, and is adjusted upward each year to reflect inflation.

THE STANDARD DEDUCTION

For 2009, the normal standard deduction amounts are $11,400 for joint filers, $8,350 for heads of households and $5,700 for married persons filing separately and singles. Couples who file separate returns must handle their deductions the same way; if one spouse itemizes, so must the other.

In 2009, the standard deduction of $11,400 for joint filers is also available to someone who qualifies as a "surviving spouse"-a widow or widower who has a dependent child living with her or him and is entitled to use joint-return rates for two years after the death of a spouse in 2007 or 2008. This is a frequently overlooked break. However, all is not lost for someone who fails to qualify as a surviving spouse. He or she might be able to use the $8,350 deduction for head of household instead of the $5,700 deduction for a single person. For example, a widow whose child lives with her might qualify as a head of household.

The deductions for individuals who have reached age 65 by the end of 2009 increase by $1,100 for a married person (whether filing jointly or separately, including a surviving spouse), and $1,400 for someone whose filing status is single or head of household.

Persons considered to be blind (vision cannot be better than 20/200 in the better eye with glasses, or the field of vision must be limited to 20 degrees or less) are entitled to those additional amounts or double those amounts if they are both 65 and blind. So the standard deduction rises from $5,700 to $7,100 for a single person who is age 65 or older. It goes from $5,700 to $8,500 for a single person who is at least 65 and blind. On a joint return, depending on whether one or both spouses are at least 65, it increases from $11,400 to $12,500 or $13,600 (with additional $1,100 amounts available for blindness).

The standard deduction decreases for individuals (children and elderly parents, mostly) who can be claimed as dependents on the returns of other people. For 2009, the standard deduction can be as little as $950.

There are some add-ons to the standard deduction, but they come with plenty of stipulations. For example, homeowners who do not itemize can claim an additional standard deduction for state and local real estate taxes. The extra deduction went on the books just for 2008 and 2009 and is capped at $1,000 for joint filers or $500 for other returns (or actual taxes paid, if that is less). Subject to the $1,000/$500 limit, the extra amount is the same as would be deductible as real estate taxes on Schedule A.

For example, suppose two spouses are at least 65 and file jointly. Their total deduction is as much as $14,600-the sum of an $11,400 normal deduction, a $2,200 deduction for being at least 65 and a $1,000 additional deduction for property taxes. They will need a lot of itemized deductions to match that.

Who might benefit from this inconsequential break that is bound to confuse many taxpayers? It could make sense for two types of clients-those who purchased homes late in the year and have not paid enough mortgage interest and taxes to make itemizing worthwhile and those who do not itemize because they have paid off their home mortgages.

Another change authorized just for 2008 and 2009 helps non- itemizers whose homes, household goods and other properties were damaged or destroyed in places declared to be federal disaster areas eligible for assistance. They can boost their standard deduction by the amount of uninsured losses attributable to natural disasters like hurricanes, fires, floods, earthquakes and landslides. Disaster losses for 2009 (calculated on Form 4684) are deductible without being subject to the usual requirement that such write-offs are allowable only to the extent they exceed $500 and 10% of adjusted gross income (AGI).