I did most of federal (basic W-2 and verify basic info), and proceeded past fall the extra credits to go to the state and see what it was showing. On this first pass, I was at $16 for federal and $7 for state. I got my other docs, re-did federal and my federal return increased to $182 because of a retirement savings credit. I went through everything else, got to state, reviewed all that again, and I'm still at $7 for the state. The credit that I added to the federal had zero impact on the state return. That same credit is what disqualifies me from free federal since federal isn't considered "simple", but that credit is obviously not being used in the state meaning the state return should still be "simple" and therefore free. How do I get the free state filing out of the TurboTax free file campaign?
Sorry---it does not work that way. When you use a paid version for the federal return, you alos use a paid version for the state. Information flows from the federal return to the state software.
If you do not want to pay for using online TT for your state, try going on the state's tax website to see if you can prepare it there. You will need information from your federal return.