State Tax Refund shown as incorrect on federal form

[SueJohnson]

The State tax refund I received on the Turbo Tax federal section is shown as almost $500 more than I correctly received. Can I change it?

[SteamTrain · Accepted solution]

On the Wages&Income page, there is an income selection for State & Local Tax Refunds...you should be able to change it in there.

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But, be a bit careful....it's likely it should only be changed if the state actually changed your refund from what you filed.

The $$ TTX presents may be validly higher than what you put in your pocket.

For instance...it might be higher (and should be left as-is)

....1)  You might have made checkoff donations to some state charities when you filed that lowered your state refund.  The Higher $ amount for the refund is valid....but you do get to use those same $$ as charity donations.

...2)  Maybe you had a lot of Use/sales taxes due as a part of yoru tx filing.  Those $$ are not considered, and add back to the $$ in yoru pocket.

....3)  Or maybe you applied $500 of your state refund to 2022 state taxes.  Those $500 would be added back....but would then be entered as state taxes paid later for a potential federal income deduction for state taxes paid.

[SueJohnson]

Thank you. I have another question. It asks what year it is from, but it is from 2 different years as a result of an amended tax return. How do I enter that?

[SteamTrain · Accepted solution]

@SueJohnson 

DId you figure it out?

You just use the default $$ for 2021 taxes...and select 2021 for that one.

Then when you get thru with that, and come out to the state Refund table, you can add the prior year's Refund amount as a separate entry ("Add another state or local tax refund")...and select what tax year it was for as you add in those entries..

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[SueJohnson]

One last question . Am I correct that the "Total of all your payments and withholding" is the same for both?

[SteamTrain]

I'm pretty sure it refers to the tax year in question.  (Though I am a bit unsure)

So you'd need a copy of your earlier  state tax form to enter that.

BUT

......but if you used the STD Deduction on that year's Federal tax return, it's fairly immaterial, since the state refund wouldn't be included now in Federal income anyhow...in which case, your entry of the state refund doesn't really do anything and isn't really important.