By far the best part of filing your taxes is getting the refund check. If you're a worker in the United States, your employer will have been withholding tax dollars from your paychecks. However, if you are self-employed, you should have been paying your taxes directly. It's not uncommon for people to overpay their taxes, so it's important to quickly file the associated paperwork for you to get your refunds as quickly and painlessly as possible. However, if you're new to the world of taxes, you might be wondering "where my state tax refund comes from" and how they work.

How State Tax Refunds Work

The first part of the answer to "Where my state tax refund comes from" is how these taxes work in the first place. If you're employed, then your employer will have been holding some of the money from your paycheck back, based on a formula and the information that you provided on your W4 when you were hired. This amount will be applied towards the amount you're supposed to pay the IRS on a yearly basis. Because the formula in question is only based on allowances that you showed through your paycheck and W4, it typically won't take other life factors into consideration, such as hospital expenses, childcare expenses, and tuition fees. However, when you file your taxes, you will be given the opportunity to claim these expenses as deductions, which reduces the amount of overall income you can be taxed for.

In the end, it simply means that you will owe less in taxes, and will be able to claim the excess amount you have paid back in the form of a tax refund. Because you are responsible for paying taxes to both the State and the Federal Government, you may end up receiving two separate tax refunds, and the amount you get will depend on the amount you have overpaid throughout the year. To make sure you receive what you're owed, you'll need to file taxes with both the state and federal government.

Where My State Tax Refund Comes From

To get tax refunds, you will need to file your tax return, and you can do this either on your own, or choose to hire an accountant or specialist. Make sure that you arrange your tax return to be completed by the deadline, which is typically in April, otherwise you will have to file for an extension. Most people prefer to file their taxes on their own, as this helps to save on money that would otherwise be paid out to professional tax specialists. However, thanks to the internet, almost anyone should be able to easily file their taxes online, using a variety of tools and software resources.

Once you have filled out the appropriate forms, you will typically receive your tax refund checks in the mail within a period of three weeks. All you will need is your routing and bank account numbers which you can easily locate at the bottom of your personal check. Remember that choosing the direct deposit option is often faster.