@phdstudent , when you enter the details in TurboTax, tell it that you have a 1099-G to report. This will then ask if you itemized in 2019 -- say yes. Thereafter it should do a computation to see if there is any "recoveries" --- you got the benefit of using XXXX for state taxes and actually ended up ( after refund ) paying YYYY and compare this to sales tax for your gross income etc. Hopefully none of it would be taxable to Feds -- the state does not tax the refund. TurboTax will all this for you -- not to worry
