Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open.

Are tax deductions voluntary?
I did a little research and found this article from 2006 by a Villanova law professor, titled "No Thanks, Uncle Sam, You Can Keep Your Tax Break".  The final paragraph of the article says: Under these circumstances, it is reasonable to conclude that a taxpayer is not required to claim a allowable deduction unless a statutory provision so requires, or a binding judicial precedent so specifies. It would be unwise, of course, to forego a deduction that the IRS considers mandatory such as those claimed by self-employed individuals with respect to their self-employment,    whether for purposes of the self-employment tax or the earned income tax credit. Until the statute is changed or some other binding authority is issued, there is no reason taxpayers who wish to forego deductions, such as the dependency exemption deduction, should hesitate in doing so. (The self-employment tax issues in the quote cited by CQM are explicitly discussed in the article as one of a few special kinds of deduction which are mandatory.) This is not a binding statement: it's not law or even official IRS policy.  You could never use it as a defense in the event that this professor turned out to be wrong and the IRS decided to go after you anyway.  However, it is a clear statement from a credible, qualified source.