I am in the Income section about my CA state tax refund, which was $62 for 2017. It's asking "Total of all your payments and withholding". Where do I find that info?

[elro61]

I saw on another post to refer to line 17 on the CA state tax return, but that line says "California adjusted state income". Please help...this is my first time doing Turbo Tax. Thanks!

[KrisD · Accepted solution]

If this in reference to the 2017 state refund (received in 2018) and whether it is taxable on your 2018 tax year return, "Total of all your payments and withholding" means the state tax you claimed on your 2017 Federal return. 

You can find this number on your 2017 Schedule A line 5a.

If you itemized on your 2017 Federal Tax return, and you took a credit for state income tax paid, you now must claim (at least part) of that refunded state tax as income. The program will ask the questions needed for the calculation of the taxable portion. 

If you took the Standard Deduction on your 2017 return, the refund is not reported as income (and you won't have a 2017 Schedule A).

If you did itemized on your 2017 return, but you claimed sales tax rather than income tax paid (5b), the refund is not claimed as income. 

[elro61]

Thanks so much for your response. My tax person did do Itemized Deductions in 2017. Schedule A line 5a is checked so it looks like I need to pay taxes on that state refund. Not sure what this means for whether I should do Itemized deduction for 2018, but I haven't gotten to that part yet.

[KrisD]

The Standard Deductions have increased quite a bit for 2018, (almost 2X) so this may not be an issue next year if you use the standard deduction this year.  Thank you for using TurboTax.