Schedule A, Line 5A

Did you happen to receive a state tax refund in 2025 for the taxes you filed for 2024?

If so, here is exactly why your Schedule A, Line 5a is lower than the gross total of your payments, and why TurboTax is doing it this way.

Under normal circumstances, if you deduct state taxes one year and get a refund the next year, the IRS forces you to claim that refund as "Taxable Income" on your federal return. However, when you make a prior-year estimated tax payment (like a 2024 Q4 payment made in January 2025) AND you receive a refund for that same prior year, you trigger a special IRS rule found in Publication 525.

The IRS states that you cannot take a federal deduction for a state tax payment if that money was ultimately refunded back to you. Because your delayed 2024 payment and your 2024 refund both occurred in the same calendar year (2025), the IRS requires the software to allocate the refund and offset it.

TurboTax is netting your 2024 refund against your 2024 payment so that you only get credit for the "net" amount you actually paid.

Here is what is happening on your return:

• When you deleted the 2024 payment: TurboTax simply added your 2025 W-2 withholdings + your 2025 estimated payments. Because neither of those had anything to do with 2024, the math matched perfectly.
• When you added the 2024 payment back: TurboTax recognized that you made a 2024 payment, but it also saw your 2024 refund. It automatically subtracted the allocated refund amount from your 2024 payment.
• For Example: Let's say your 2025 withholdings and estimates equaled $5,000. You also made a 2024 estimated payment of $1,000 in January. Normally, your Line 5a would be $6,000. However, if you received a $400 state refund for 2024, TurboTax subtracts that $400 from your $1,000 payment. It only adds $600 to your Schedule A. Your Line 5a becomes $5,600—which is greater than your 2025-only totals, but less than the gross total you actually paid out of pocket.

By subtracting the refund directly from Schedule A, Line 5a, TurboTax is keeping that refund from being added to the very top of your tax return as "Taxable Income." This keeps your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) artificially lower, which can protect you from hitting certain tax phase-outs or Medicare premium surcharges.