Choosing the Indiana County of Employment for Out-of-state College Student

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
March 2, 2025
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My child is a college student in Indiana. We reside out-of-state in Tennessee. Turbo Tax asks us to "Tell us the Indiana COUNTY where you were EMPLOYED on January 1, 2024.
Our assumption at first was that she should list the Indiana county where the college she attends is (since she worked part-time on campus).

However, there is link below that says: "If on January 1, 2024, you were retired, unemployed, a student, or a homemaker, select the county where you lived as your county of employment."

My thought then went to selecting "Out-of-State - Other" since she is not an Indiana resident. However, choosing that makes a big difference in how much she gets back as a refund, almost as though she isn't paying county tax by choosing that option.

Should she choose the Indiana county where she earned the money? Or, because she's a student, does she choose that she lived "Out-of-State - Other?" We just want to make sure we're choosing and reading it correctly.

Thanks in advance!

MindyB

It depends. Was she a student in Indiana on 1/1/24? If so, she needs to pay the county tax. ‌If she started after 1/1/24, then she doesn't need to pay the county tax.

Per Indiana Department of Revenue Student Taxes, "Indiana nonresident students who first attend college beginning sometime after Jan. 1 of the year will not be considered county residents for that first year.

Likewise, nonresident students attending the fall semester (followed by the spring semester), will be considered residents of the county as of that Jan. 1 and are subject to county tax."

TaxHelpNeeded101Author

Yes, she was a student on Jan. 1. Thank you so much! This is really helpful! So, according to Indiana she is considered a 'resident' of the Indiana county she is attending college in, even though federally she is considered a resident of TN?

MindyB

Yes you are correct. For federal purposes, students are recognized as being temporarily away from home. And for TN, she was considered a resident of the county she attended college in, based on the date she was a student.