You’ve got it right: you enter the amount of your state and/or local income tax refund you received in 2009.
If, on your 2008 tax return, you itemized deductions and claimed a deduction for state and local income taxes, for 2009 you will have to pay federal tax on the amount refunded to you. If you did not itemize deductions or did not claim a deduction for state and local income taxes, you will not be taxed on your refund.
Tax refunds from state and local governments are treated as income by the IRS and must be reported on your federal tax return.
If you itemized on your 2008 federal tax return (rather than taking the standard deduction), then your 2008 state refund could be partially taxable on your 2009 federal tax return. It depends on what you itemized and where the state refund came from originally. (Like from paycheck withholdings versus from various deductions.) If you used the standard deduction, then your state refund is not taxable, and you’re off the hook.
if you got a state refund the previous year and you itemized, this would be income to you for the current year
if you didn’t itemize forget the whole thing
Yes, you enter the ammount refunded to you iby the state in 2009 because you overpaid in 2008.
yes, you enter your refund. You did not pay taxes on your refund, so now you do.