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IRS tax question for experts


KevinthePRF

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I got a letter this past week from the IRS saying I owed more money from 2012 because I didn't report my state refund as income. My question is, how are state refunds taxed federally? The money is technically income from 2011. Is the IRS not double dipping taxing refunds?

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I got a letter this past week from the IRS saying I owed more money from 2012 because I didn't report my state refund as income. My question is, how are state refunds taxed federally? The money is technically income from 2011. Is the IRS not double dipping taxing refunds?

 

No, it isn't.  That refund represents income from 2011 that you never paid federal taxes on in 2011 (because the state had been holding some or your cash and hadn't given it back to you yet).  This kind of next year adjustment is perfectly normal and happens every year you get a state refund or owe state taxes.  

 

In my case, I always owe the state taxes when I do my returns, so my next year I owe LESS federal tax because my real income was less than I initially reported back when I did my taxes the year before.

 

It makes perfect sense, but it's a pain to track it yourself.  Use Turbotax.  it takes care of all this stuff.     

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I think I got hit with this one year when I itemized and deducted sales tax (due to buying a car). I may have improperly deducted both state sales and income tax.

The next time I did taxes, I was concerned because Turbotax did not tax my state refund. But it seems if you take the standard deduction, your state refund may not be counted as taxable income.

Not legal advice....

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