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June 6, 2019
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Help with reporting more than 1 state return and state wages

  • June 6, 2019
  • 1 reply
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So I am a Massachusetts permanent resident, staying in New York as an out-of-state student, nonresident. I also work part-time and have been working with the same company in both Massachusetts and New York this year, thus my W2 reflects both states and I must file for each state.

I'm having trouble understanding how to report my state wages for Massachusetts. The total amount of my state wages that has been transferred is the total amount I earned in both MA and NY. However to my understanding, my state wages should be what I earned solely in MA (which is far less than what I  earned in NY).

Yet when I adjust this to the amount that is listed for MA State Wages in Box 16, I am not allowed to e-file and it feels like I've done something wrong?

Are my NY wages supposed to be combined and filed as MA state wages since I am a resident of MA? If this is the case I can understand that, but I notice my MA refund significantly decreases as a result.

This is the first time I've worked in two states and I just don't want to make any errors or even get a lower refund than I'm supposed to.
Best answer by MichaelL1

This is how it works.

NY you report only wages earned there and file a Non-resident NY return.

Massachusetts, you file a resident return and report ALL income (including NY income) and then take a credit for taxes paid to another state.

Make sure in TurboTax you do the non-resident NY return prior to doing the resident return, so TurboTax can correctly compute the credit for taxes paid to another state.

1 reply

MichaelL1
MichaelL1Answer
Employee
June 6, 2019

This is how it works.

NY you report only wages earned there and file a Non-resident NY return.

Massachusetts, you file a resident return and report ALL income (including NY income) and then take a credit for taxes paid to another state.

Make sure in TurboTax you do the non-resident NY return prior to doing the resident return, so TurboTax can correctly compute the credit for taxes paid to another state.

yxnngAuthor
June 6, 2019
Ok, that what's I figured. Makes sense. Thanks!