Hello valeries5boys,
Thank you for participating in this Ask the Experts event. As to your question, there are only two scenarios I can think of where you would not have to pay to file a state return: (1) you met the income requirements to file for free, or (2) it was a promotional period where TurboTax was offering the state return for free. If #2, we never know when those are being offered or for how long, so if that was the case last year then you did your returns at the right time.
Another scenario that could have happened (I wouldn't know without looking at your last year return) is even though you entered all the W-2s with the different state's incomes in your federal return, it is possible you never filed the individual state returns for which all those W-2s were for. TurboTax will recommend that a state return is filed when it recognizes income from various states, but the user needs to choose whether or not to actually create a state return. Being from Texas, you do not have state income tax, so you never need to create a state return for Texas, so there may be some confusion there.
Either way, if your income levels for each state are below the threshold to file, you technically don't need to file for those states. However, if you had income tax withheld for those states you will need to file a state return to seek a possible refund of those withheld taxes. If it is more than $49 that you are getting back then it may be worth your time to fill them out and pay for them.
I hope that helps.
