Hi Until last year, our CA state tax due was way below federal tax. this year its as high as federal.
When i try to understand, there is abolutely no explanation for how that value for state tax is computed.
Is it on purpose that state tax is not explained? or is it a bug?
Have you double checked to make sure the amounts you entered from income documents were entered correctly? Check your W-2 boxes 16 and 17 to make sure they did not have misplaced decimals, extra zeros or typos. No one else can see your tax return so all we can do is guess. You could try printing out your 2022 state return and the 2023 state return to compare them line by line and find what is different.
They are filled correctly.
I can only compare the 2023 tax return with previous years, if i pay the money it shows and file the tax return. Only after paying, I am able to see the tax return.
There is no way to understand the state tax until I pay. That is bad right. Turbo tax has to explain the number it shows before payment so that I can make an informed decision. Why should we pay the money for which there is no explanation, right?
You can pay your fees and print the return before you file. Then you can do a line by line comparison with last year's return to see what is different. If you find a mistake or a change that needs to be made, you can still fix it before you e-file.
Sorry---online does not give you full access to all of the tax forms before you pay. If they allowed it----people would just use the software to do all the work, re-copy on paper forms and mail them in for free.