I am married filing jointly. I received a large severance last year and didn't secure a new job. That severance was taxed at a higher rate (36%) than my normal pay stub (22%). My total annual Income was higher as was the tax amount, which is what I expected. Net net, I owed less to the Fed by about 40% less for 2023 which I assume is because the withholding was relatively high. Granted, there are other sources of income and complexities, but let's assume those aren't hugely different. But when I did California state tax - because the tax withholding was so much higher (line 71), even taking into account the higher income, TurboTax is indicating a giant refund - something like 3x my refund of the prior year. Is that to be expected? I have gone over all of my entries and the fact that the Federal was not anywhere near as different (sure, 40% is meaningful though) suggested to me that I was pretty close in this first attempt. I did an Internet search but couldn't find any additional information other than typically severance is treated like supplemental income and therefore can have higher withholdings that would ultimately be refunded. I just didn't expect such a wide disparity between Fed and Calif. Thanks for your help in advance.
