I'm calculating my 2008 itemized deductions and I'm using the Itemized Deductions Worksheet on page A-10.
On line 9, it says to enter the smaller of line 4 or 8 (let's call this number X) On line 10, it says to "Divide line 9 by 1.5". So now, line 10 is two- thirds of X On line 11, it says to "Subtract line 10 from line 9" (This would result in one-third of X)
Wouldn't it have been faster for line 11 to read, "Divide line 9 by 3" and skip line 10 altogether? There's gotta be a point to the useless computation, but I haven't figured it out.