I noticed Turbo tax has deducted money from California state refund to pay Federal I owe for 2018. Can Turbo tax do that? I have not yet filed. Thanks.

[dusty7856]

Last year, 2017 I sent a personal check to pay the money I owed  for Federal, I got refund from California state.

This year, 2018 I noticed money got deducted from my state refund to payoff the federal.  I have not yet filed my 2018.

Can Turbo Tax do this?  I thought Federal and State were completely separate and one can not deduct money to offset or payoff the other!

I'll wait for the answer, thank you.

[xmasbaby0]

You misunderstood.  Your state tax due cannot be paid from your federal refund, nor can a state refund pay federal tax due.

It is not possible to pay your state tax due from your federal refund, nor is it possible to pay a federal tax due from a state refund.  The federal and state treasuries are completely separate from each other.  You may have seen a TurboTax summary of your federal and state amounts that confused you into thinking one was “paying” the other.  It is not.  If you have federal tax due you can pay by mailing your payment, having the payment taken out of a designated bank account, or you can pay directly on the IRS website.  You must pay your state tax due using the state’s preferred method of receiving payment.  For most states that will be by making a payment to the state’s own tax website, or by mailing a check or money order.