Tax Year Prior to 2020: Total Refund Received in 2018 & Total of all your payments and withholding & 1099G

See my answers and explanations below in bold.

1. Total Refund Received in 2018. This is your total California refund you received in 2018, when you filed your 2017 income taxes.

2. Total of all your payments and withholding.  This is your total estimated tax payments (if you made any) and your total withheld from W-2 or 1099 forms.

Questions are:

1. TurboTax has automatically filled in a number $A for both.  That makes sense if you filed with TurboTax in 2017.  Just verify that they are correct.

2. Total refund of 2017 is not $A, and the amount I received is not $A either. But I can see the number $A shows in my tax return form 540, followed by "California income tax withheld".  This should be the actual amount received in 2018, from your 2017 tax return that was prepared.  If you received a different amount, then enter the amount you actually received.

3. I can not find total of all my payments and withholding. Also I can't see form 1099G in my tax return.  Form 1099-G  This is your total estimated tax payments (if you made any) and your total withheld from W-2 or 1099 forms for the 2018 tax year. Form 1099-G is a form the state sometimes sends to verify the state tax refund you received in 2018 (for your 2017 tax return, because it was prepared in 2018).  

So the "Total of all your payments and withholding" is all state taxes withheld from my 1099-R, SSA-1099 and other payments to state made in 2019?  (I'm working on 2019 return)

No, it is for 2018.

TurboTax is trying to determine if your refund is taxable, which depends on whether or not you deducted it in 2018 and received a tax benefit from the deduction.

The total of all your payments and withholding is all state taxes withheld shown on all income forms, and other payments to the state paid in 2018, such as quarterly payments.

@Inabutovsky

I am still confused. I am working on tax return for year 2019.   In that year I received state refund because I overpaid state taxes in 2018. So in "Total of all your payments and withholding"  I need to put all my payments to the state tax plus all money which where withheld for state on forms 1099-R, SSA-1099 and other 1099. And I need to use 2018 forms for that and not 2019 forms?

Yes, but you will be able to see the amount you claimed for state taxes paid on your 2018 federal schedule A.

Schedule A line 5a.

Im in NJ,  What line do I use for my "Total of All your payments and withholding"  In the Tell Us about your refund section?  Is it "22" on "Schedule A Line 5" form from 2018? 

It would be the number on the 2018 tax year Schedule A line 5a. 

If the box next to line 5a is checked, the refund is not reported and not taxable. 

Please tell me which line number it is in which photo.

Photo 3Photo 2Photo 1

You need to look at the Schedule A from your 2018 Tax year. 

If you took the Standard Deduction on your 2018 tax year return, the refund is not reported. 

If you did itemize on your 2018 tax year return, but the box on line 5a is checked, the state refund is not reported. 

If you did itemize and you used state income tax and not state sales tax, use the number on line 5a. 

You can look at your 2018 tax return in "Your tax returns and documents" located on the Home Page of your account if you used TurboTax last year. 

If you don't see Schedule A, look at your 2018 1040 line 8, if you claimed the Standard Deduction, your state refund is not reported on your 2019 return. 

Photo 2 line 22 could be the amount you want, but that would only be if you did in fact itemize on your 2018 return. 

Here is the line you would need to look at on your 2018 Schedule A IF you filed one. 

So we took the standard deduction, we did not itemize.  

So, what am I looking for?

Nothing. The state refund is then not reported, it is not taxable. 

Hello RobertG,

But in my case I added my wife and now we are filling jointly.  The program already had my info, but in the case of my wife, how would I find out what the total of all her payments and withholding are?  Last year she did not itemize, so her taxes were simple i believe.  Can we find out this info from her W2 or would I have to look at a copy of what she filed and where would i find it?  Thank you so much?

If she did not itemize then her refund is not taxable on this year's return.  You can skip entering any information regarding a refund received from a tax return that did not itemize deductions.   

If all three of the following are true, your refund counts as taxable income:

• You itemized deductions last year, instead of taking the standard deduction
• You claimed state and local income taxes (not general sales taxes)
• Claiming the deduction helped you increase your federal refund or lower your tax bill

@chapinreyes

Hi KrisD15,

In my case, i took the standard deduction last year, but my wife before we got married last year she itemized. How would we go about completing this section since one of us itemized and one of us took the standard deduction?  See screenshots.  It looks like we would have to add the amounts we both received to make one entry.  However, if we add both, after completing it says let's see if your 2018 refund is taxable?  See screenshot, how do you answer this?

For #3, you said "Total of all my payments and withholding" is "your total estimated tax payments (if you made any) and your total withheld". Why are balance due payments made when filing a return not included?

Thanks!

Please be aware that you are answering a question from Tax Year 2019.

First of all, there would not be a State Tax Balance Due Payment for the same tax year in which you received a State Refund, which is what this question is about. 

State balance due is not computed because you are figuring if the prior year State Refund is taxable. (You pay a State Balance Due for Tax Year 2021 in Tax Year 2022 and so on) (In 2022 you would get a refund for Tax Year 2021 and so on)  (so you never pay a State Balance Due the same year you get a State Refund.)

You are comparing what you claimed as Itemized Deduction on the prior year Federal Return, and that prior year STATE return resulted in a State Refund. 

Your Federal return will use the state tax paid in that year as a possible deduction. Yes, you can include state tax balance due payments as well for the deduction. 

But again, if you had a balance due, you didn't get a refund.