Why was I charged by the IRS for my federal tax due when it was already deducted from my CA state refund by TurboTax?

[jarindipity]

Why was I charged by the IRS for my federal tax due when it was already deducted from my CA state refund by TurboTax?

I’m trying to understand what happened to our refund. I was under the impression that our federal tax due of $1,882 had already been deducted from our CA state refund of $2,511, which is why we were only expecting to receive $629.

Can someone please explain this to me? Why did the IRS still charge us the $1,882? I’m wondering if there was an error somewhere or if I’m just missing something.

[xmasbaby0]

You are confused.

The “summary” given to you by TurboTax must have confused you.  That summary just nets out the difference between a refund you are getting and an amount you owe.   Or it adds two refunds or tax “due” amounts together.

The federal and state treasuries are completely separate from each other.  

Your state tax due cannot be paid from a federal refund.

And….your federal tax due cannot be paid from a state refund.  

Neither refund can be used to pay the amount due to the other one.

If you owe tax due, you have to pay it yourself by the filing deadline on April 15, 2025.

[jarindipity]

I know these are two separate things, but I was wondering if there might be an issue with TurboTax or if there’s just a misunderstanding on my part. It just so happened that when I subtract our CA state refund of $2,511 from our federal tax due of $1,882, the result is $629, which made me think everything had already been deducted.

My impression was that the amounts had been settled, but to my surprise, $1,882 was still charged to my bank account.

Sorry, I’m a total newbie at this—I could be completely wrong since I’m not very knowledgeable about taxes.

[VolvoGirl]

 At the end Turbo Tax just shows you the net federal and state combined. But that is only for your info. You will still get the full refund and you need to pay a tax due.