State return is $1000 less this year altho basic No's. the same as for several years. Why? Have I made a mistake?

[janiba]

Basic numbers are income, deductions, etc.  State return is always between 0 and $300.  This year I owe them $970.  Have I make an error?

[AnthonyC · Accepted solution]

Do you have a copy of your 2017 state return or can you bring one up to compare to your 2018 return?  It shows that you are using the desktop program so it should be fairly straightforward to switch to Forms Mode and do a line by line comparison of your main state form to see where the difference is located.  

One possibility may have to do with tax reform.  Many states require that you take the same deduction (standard or itemized) on your state return as you do your federal.  Since the standard deduction was doubled this year on the Federal return, many people who used to itemize are now using the standard.  The problem becomes that many states don't offer a larger standard deduction so now your taxes may go up for the state return if you were used to using a higher itemized deduction amount on your state return.

Check your state return and if the above is the case, then you may benefit from changing your federal deduction to itemized even if its less than the standard (search for "itemized deductions, choosing" in the search topics)