I know this is an old post, but I just found it by Googling the same question, so I figured I would chime in with the answer I found in case anyone else comes across it. It seems your state tax refund may be excluded from income even if you itemized on the prior year's return due to the $10,000 SALT deduction cap. The IRS explains it here: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/with-new-salt-limit-irs-explains-tax-treatment-of-state-and-local-tax-r...
