State taxable refund shows 0

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Hi all,

Is this a common issue still? I have clients with state refunds 1099G but 1040 always shows $0 is taxable. Is that correct that the bug from prior years is fixed? Or do I have to enter this in manually?

ProSeries Professional

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J

JOFIAnswer

Intuit Community Champion

State tax refunds are only taxable IF the taxpayer itemized their deductions the prior year AND the state tax refund would have impacted the final amount of itemized deductions. For example, if a taxpayer reported $10,400 of state taxes paid in 2019, received the $10,000 SALT cap, and then got a $600 refund in the spring of 2020 -- in this case, $200 would be taxable.

But if a taxpayer took the Standard Deduction, or if the state refund would not have impacted the itemized deductions, from the previous year, it is not a taxable amount.

In other words, it SHOULD be a rare event for you to see anything other than $0 as the taxable amount.

J

JOFI

Answer

Intuit Community Champion

State tax refunds are only taxable IF the taxpayer itemized their deductions the prior year AND the state tax refund would have impacted the final amount of itemized deductions. For example, if a taxpayer reported $10,400 of state taxes paid in 2019, received the $10,000 SALT cap, and then got a $600 refund in the spring of 2020 -- in this case, $200 would be taxable.

But if a taxpayer took the Standard Deduction, or if the state refund would not have impacted the itemized deductions, from the previous year, it is not a taxable amount.

In other words, it SHOULD be a rare event for you to see anything other than $0 as the taxable amount.