Need to file state taxes when you live and work in different states?
Most people in the U.S. live and work in the same state, which makes state taxes pretty easy to understand – you pay taxes to the state where you live and work.
But what if you live in one state and work in another? Do you pay taxes to the state where you live? Where you earn an income? Both?!
You need to pay taxes to both. Most likely you will end up having to file a resident return in the state where you live and a nonresident return in the state where you work.
Resident return
Generally you need to file a resident return in the state where you are a permanent resident. This state has the right to tax ALL of your income, wherever it was earned.
Nonresident return
After you file your resident return in your home state, you then need to go about filing a nonresident return in every other state where you earned money. A nonresident return only taxes you on the money you earned in that state. What often happens is that you withhold some income for each state tax.
Let’s take a real-world example.
Let’s say you live in New Jersey and commute to your NYC job Monday through Friday. Come tax time, you would need to file a resident return in NJ (reporting all of your income) and a nonresident return in NY (reporting only the income you earned in NY).
Worried about being double-taxed? Don’t be. You will have an opportunity to claim a credit for taxes paid to the nonresident state. They will then divide whatever has been withheld between them and the state whose tax liability was not exactly met will either give you a refund or a tax bill.
States without an income tax
There’s always an exception to the rule. In this case, there are seven exceptions. The five states with no income tax and the two states that only tax interest and dividends are the exclusions:
- Alaska
- Florida
- Nevada
- South Dakota
- Texas
- Washington
- Wyoming
- Tennessee
- New Hampshire
If you live in one of these states, you don’t need to file a resident return (unless you live in TN or NH and have interest and dividends income). But if you work in a state that does have an income tax you have to file a nonresident return in that state.
The same holds true when the situation is reversed. If you live in a state with an income tax, you must file a resident return there. But if you work in a state without an income tax, you don’t have to worry about filing a nonresident return.
Sound complicated? There’s a reason for that: it is. But let’s not stress because here’s all you really need to know. For this to work, every state needs to make agreements with every other state covering the income they could both theoretically tax. These agreements are structured to generate a minimum amount of paperwork and special cases: instead of having some workers who lives in a state but doesn’t pay taxes, the states have someone who lives in the state and pays taxes like everyone else — but gets a special tax credit at the end of the year.
In a situation like this, it’s often best to talk to your payroll department about how to proceed. In places with many out-of-state commuters (like New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, as well as cities near state borders), they will have the details on how each state treats out-of-state income.
Even if you have to file multiple state tax returns you can take care of them right here on RapidTax.
Me and My wife were living in NJ for 2016 and she was working in PA. My wife receive w2 with both PA and NJ withholding, kindly advice me how to file our state taxes. should i file non resident PA tax and file for tax credit in NJ or since both the states have reciprocal treaty should i file zero income in PA return and ask for full refund and pay NJ taxes on full income?
According to the reciprocal agreement between NJ and PA your state taxes should have been withheld for NJ and not PA. Unfortunately we cannot fully advise on how you should be filing due to not having your W-2 information available to view. But if taxes were withheld from PA and not NJ, you will need to file a non-resident state return with PA to receive you full refund for taxes paid to PA and a full year resident with NJ in order to pay for any missed tax liability. Please confer with your payroll department to ensure that taxes are withheld appropriately for your state of residency in the future.
I have been a California resident my entire life. I am about to take a job in Nevada and plan to rent an apartment there. I will spend at least 5 days a week at my Nevada address. My family will stay in our home in California and I will see them on weekends. My question is what criteria must be met in order for me to claim Nevada residency while my family remains in California? Would Nevada residency preclude me from paying California income tax? So all income will originate in Nevada; I will have a permanent residence in Nevada and will secure a Nevada license. We have historically filed a joint return. Am I still going to get hit with California income tax?
Hello Gl,
To my understanding based on the information you have provided, your resident state is now Nevada, where you have your permanent home. Therefore, you will file a Nevada Resident state return. If your lived part-year in California and Nevada, only then you will file a part-year state return for California and Nevada.
2016 was my first year of social security, my wife works in GA but we are residents of South Carolina. I also used to work in GA. for years we filed a resident return in SC and a Non Resident Return in GA. While preparing our taxes on the normal tax software we usually use I noticed the GA form listed my Social Security benefit amount as taxable in GA. Plus I took a distribution from my 401K and it also was listed as taxable GA income. I don’t feel I GA is entitled to tax either amounts since I am a SC resident and the only taxable income is the W-2 income my wife received. Is this a correct interpretation?
Your pension should be allocated to your resident state for tax purposes. Since you have confirmed the only income earned in GA was your spouse’s W-2 income, then only this income should be allocated to GA. Rapidtax can expertly prepare your Resident and Non-resident returns. Click here to get started today.
My husband lived and worked in CA for half year then moved to AZ, changed residency and works there until now, while I live in CA.
How should I file the tax with this situation. Please help!
If you are filing a joint return, it may be best for you to file as CA resident and AZ non-resident.
I am a little concerned ,y husband works in Iowa but we Live in Illinois Iowa takes taxes out when we file we mark nonresident the question I want to ask is if we owe taxes to Illinois can Illinois take the money that he pay to Iowa for taxes
In order to avoid double taxation, IL offers a resident credit for taxes paid to IA. To take advantage of this, you must file a resident IL return and a Non-resident IA return. Rapid tax expertly handles resident and non-resident returns. Click here to get started today.