No. West Virginia does not allow taxpayers to claim federal itemized deductions on their West Virginia individual income tax return. West Virginia starts with your federal adjusted gross income (AGI) and applies its own additions, subtractions, exemptions, and credits rather than using federal itemized deductions.
Gambling Losses Are the Exception
The one notable exception is gambling losses.
West Virginia allows a subtraction for qualifying gambling losses, but only up to the amount of gambling winnings. To qualify:
- The losses must be related to West Virginia gambling activity.
- You must be able to substantiate the losses.
- Supporting documentation is required, such as Forms W-2G, Forms 1099, account summaries, bank records, or a gambling log.
If you itemized on your federal return and reported gambling losses on Federal Schedule A, the software will generally pull that information into the West Virginia return automatically and limit the deduction to the amount of qualifying gambling winnings.
What If the Gambling Loss Amount Needs to Be Changed?
If the automatically calculated gambling loss deduction is not correct, you can make adjustments in the West Virginia return under:
State(select the 3 dots for Edit) → Subtractions from Income
The adjustment should reflect the allowable gambling loss amount based on your winnings and supporting records.