@Confused20
[edited]
Many states have a child care credit that uses the same rules as the federal credit. If you were move the credit from your federal tax return and pay it back, you may also have to remove the credit from your state return and re-pay something to the state. The state credit is usually smaller than the federal credit.
I think you said this happened several years ago. The normal statute of limitations for the IRS is three years, and for California and some other states up to four years, from the filing deadline. For example, a 2018 return, which was due April 15, 2019, is past the federal statue limitations as of April 15, 2022. While correcting old errors is honorable, it may not be something you could get penalized for, depending how long ago this happened.
