State tax refund on 1040

[Seidnershouse]

How do we file my wife's state tax refund on our federal taxes. We got married in 2019 but she was in a previous marriage at the end 2018 and did get divorced until early  2019.  Her previous marriage they filed jointly we are filling jointly this year. Do we split the 2018 refund in half or claim the whole refund.

Thanks,

Bruce

[MikeinSC]

Amazing how hard this question is to answer.

Looking at the instructions to Schedule 1 page 81 of the 1040 instructions, it refers to IRS Pub 525 for help and to look for"Itemized Deduction Recoveries" - which is discussed  on page 23 of that pub - 

Here is the answer - allocate her share based on her State taxes paid in compared to the total.   If her withholdings were 30% of the total, she would use that percentage of the refund to figure how much of the refund is taxable.  Refer to taxability of refunds (where you determine if the refund is taxed) to compute that amount.