If I owe state income taxes at the end of the year, can I elect to pay owed taxes from my federal tax refund?

[VolvoGirl]

No, not directly.  You would have to get the federal refund then pay the state tax due.  Federal and state are completely separate.  You can't have a tax due deducted from the other one.  Turbo Tax just shows you the net amount combined at the end, but that's just for you own info.  

[CDavidAnderson1]

I can't imagine you can do anything other that deposit your federal refund and write a check to the state.  I'm not an accountant, but I have never heard the IRS has a system to transfer payments to states for individual taxpayers.  Such a system would probably be a nightmare for the IRS to operate anyway.

[Opus 17]

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@CDavidAnderson1 wrote:

I can't imagine you can do anything other that deposit your federal refund and write a check to the state.  I'm not an accountant, but I have never heard the IRS has a system to transfer payments to states for individual taxpayers.  Such a system would probably be a nightmare for the IRS to operate anyway.

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You are correct that the IRS does not do that.  Also, turbotax does not do that.  Even though you can arrange to pay the Turbotax fees from your federal refund, you can't have state taxes paid that way.

The simplest thing to do is to file your returns early, selected direct deposit for your federal refund, and select "I will pay be check" for your state refund.  That way, you get the federal direct deposit before the state tax is due April 15.  If you are asking about the current year, since it is after April 15, your taxes are due when you file your return, so this method may result in owing additional late fees or interest to the state.