Question

I am a resident of AZ, living in MA, employed in NH. I will not be a resident of MA for this calendar year. I am currently paying income tax in MA. What do I do/fix?

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
December 5, 2023
2 replies
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I moved to Massachusetts in September. The house I am staying at is not in my name. I do not plan on filing as a resident until next year as if I understand correctly I have to be in a state for 183 days to be considered a resident. I am working in New Hampshire and the state income tax coming out of my paychecks are being paid to MA. Should I switch this to be paid towards AZ state income tax? Also what do I do about the amount that has already been paid. Is there any other information that I should know or might be helpful? Any help is greatly appreciated.

TurboTax Online

Employee

Employee

Unless your stay in MA, is temporary (you intended to return to AZ, in September, and still intend to return), you became a MA resident in Sept. The 183 day rule doesn't apply. The MA withholding is correct.

For 2023, you file as a part year resident, in both AZ and MA.

Hal_Al

Employee

My reply, above, was edited.

T

TomD8

Employee

To elaborate on @Hal_Al 's answer: if your move to MA is temporary in nature, and your main home (your domicile in tax terminology) is still in AZ, then ALL your income is taxable by AZ. In that case, it would also be taxable by MA IF 1) you spent 183 days or more in MA; or 2) you physically worked in MA. In this scenario, if you had MA-taxable income, you would file a non-resident MA tax return and a full-year resident AZ tax return.

But, as @Hal_Al explained, if your move to MA was permanent (you abandoned your AZ domicile), then for tax purposes you became a resident of MA on the day you began living in MA. Any income you had from that day forward would be taxable by MA. In this scenario, you would file part-year resident returns for both AZ and MA. The 183-day rule does not apply to permanent moves.

NH does not tax W-2 income.

**Answers are correct to the best of my ability but do not constitute tax or legal advice.