When Congress created the tip, overtime, senior, and car loan interest deductions in mid-2025, the IRS built a new form to carry them: Schedule 1-A, “Additional Deductions.” That gives you an unusually clean diagnostic. Open the PDF of your filed 2025 return and look through the attachments. No Schedule 1-A anywhere? Then your return claimed none of the new deductions — regardless of what you qualified for.
If Schedule 1-A is there, check it line by line. Each deduction has its own section, and partial misses were everywhere in 2025: software that handled tips smoothly still stumbled on overtime, because the deductible amount — the premium third of time-and-a-half — appears on no pay stub. The car loan question tripped filers who didn’t know their “import” was assembled in Tennessee. A blank line next to income you actually earned is a missed refund.
The senior deduction is the one exception to the Schedule 1-A test — it rides with your standard deduction instead. If you (or your spouse) were 65 by the end of 2025, compare your deduction amount against what it should be with the extra $6,000 per qualifying person included.