To determine if a state refund is taxable income, first look at your 2023 tax year federal return. If you took the Standard Deduction, the refund is not taxable and needn't be entered.
If you Itemized Deductions, the program needs to know how much in state tax you deducted on Schedule A.
That would be listed on Line 5d and include all the state withholding on your 2023 tax forms as well as state sales tax and/or property taxes claimed.
If the state tax deduction was limited because of the SALT limit, anything over the limit is not taxable.
EXAMPLE- you paid 12,000 in state tax but was limited to 10,000, any refund 2,000 or less is not reported.
Thanks so much for that very helpful response. My refund is for a local tax in prior tax years -- 2021 and 2022. The city tax was refunded because some work was done at home rather than in the city. If I took the standard deduction in those years, I do not need to enter the 1099-G at all on my taxes? Again, thank you for such a quick and complete response!!