You likely owe state taxes because the amount that you had withheld from your paychecks was less than your total state tax liability for 2025. This can happen due to under-withholding.
If your income was higher than last year or you had some new income sources that did not have withholding, such as investments or unemployment this could be the cause. Make sure that you entered your information from Boxes 16 & 17 of your W-2's correctly into TurboTax.
If you have multiple jobs, it can affect your state tax withholding. Each employer calculates your withholding as if it is your only job. This usually results in too little tax being taken out. You can ask your employer/payroll company to increase your state tax withholding.
You can get back to your TurboTax screens to check those entries as follows:
- Click on "Search" in the top right of your TurboTax screen.
- Type "W-2" in the search bar.
- Click on the link "Jump to W-2"
- Continue through your TurboTax screens to manually review your W-2 entries. Box 16 should reflect your state wages and Box 17 should reflect your state withholdings.
If you have additional information or questions regarding this, please return to Community and we would be glad to help.
**Say "Thanks" by clicking the thumb icon in a post
**Mark the post that answers your question by clicking on "Mark as Best Answer"
