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Level 2
June 6, 2019
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I live in Delaware but work in Philadelphia, PA. I received two w-2 forms from my employer. One form has the PA wage taxes and the other has DE. What do I do?

  • June 6, 2019
  • 3 replies
  • 8 views
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Best answer by DanielV01

You are correct.  You will be filing a Pennsylvania nonresident return and a Delaware resident return.  Your income is taxable to both states, but you will receive a credit from DE on the tax you must pay to PA on the same income.  To accomplish this, you will prepare the PA return first so that the credit can be accurately calculated and applied.  Here is an FAQ on this:  https://ttlc.intuit.com/replies/3302052

One thing to watch out for:  if the W-2 repeats the Federal Income (box 1) amount on both box 16 amounts for PA and Delaware, TurboTax will initially calculate that your Delaware income is actually twice as much as it really is.  If this happens, you should see a screen about double-taxed income on the Delaware return.  This is the PA income, on box 16 of the PA line.  This will remove the extra income so that your tax is accurately calculated for Delaware.

3 replies

DanielV01
DanielV01Answer
Level 15
June 6, 2019

You are correct.  You will be filing a Pennsylvania nonresident return and a Delaware resident return.  Your income is taxable to both states, but you will receive a credit from DE on the tax you must pay to PA on the same income.  To accomplish this, you will prepare the PA return first so that the credit can be accurately calculated and applied.  Here is an FAQ on this:  https://ttlc.intuit.com/replies/3302052

One thing to watch out for:  if the W-2 repeats the Federal Income (box 1) amount on both box 16 amounts for PA and Delaware, TurboTax will initially calculate that your Delaware income is actually twice as much as it really is.  If this happens, you should see a screen about double-taxed income on the Delaware return.  This is the PA income, on box 16 of the PA line.  This will remove the extra income so that your tax is accurately calculated for Delaware.

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Level 2
June 6, 2019
Thank you so much for this information!
AmyC
Level 15
March 2, 2020

Your resident city and state will tax your wages in full.While the state will give you a credit for taxes paid to other states, the city will not give credit for state tax paid.

@tbb1

 

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Level 2
February 13, 2021

I am in the same situation as the OP: live in Delaware but work in Philadelphia...somewhat.  I work for a Texas-centered corporation that has work locations in many states, including the work location I was hired for in Philadelphia.  The employer address on the W2 indicates a Texas address but the employer's name on the W2 is listed as "[Company Name] of Pennsylvania LLC".    The W2 indicates taxes were paid to my home state of Delaware and also to the city of Philadelphia.  In normal times, I would be physically commuting to a work location in Philadelphia.   However, because of the pandemic, I've been working remotely from my home in Delaware for more than 3/4 of 2020.   My guess is that working remotely has no effect on the states I pay taxes to, correct?  In my situation, should I be filing a PA state tax return that shows my full gross adjusted income for this job, pay whatever PA tax amount calculates, and then apply my PA tax payment as a deduction on my DE state tax return?  Am I understanding this correctly?  Thanks in advance.

Employee Tax Expert
February 13, 2021

You are correct.  Working remotely does not affect the state you pay taxes to.  As it sounds like most of your income is sourced to PA, you will still need to file in PA as a nonresident.


You will then be able to claim a credit on your resident DE return as a credit for taxes paid to another state.

 

PA filing requirement

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Level 2
February 13, 2021

Thought so...thank you for confirming!

Level 2
April 17, 2021

So I’m in the same situation. Live in Delaware and work in Philly. My W2 came back with a Federal, DE state, but  not a PA state. Just had a City and Local. When I tried to file for PA only my wife was coming up as having PA and nothing for me. They stopped taking city wage out but all the information they shared looked like I should still get a PA W2.

should I have gotten a W2 for PA or is this my company considering me a remote worker for 2020? 

Level 15
April 18, 2021

@Jdsherm45 It depends. If your employer did not withheld Pennsylvania income tax then they consider you to be a Delaware employee. PA may disagree, The Department of Revenue says:

 

In summary, if an employee is working from home temporarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the department does not consider that as a change to the sourcing of the employee’s compensation. For non-residents who were working in Pennsylvania before the pandemic, their compensation would remain Pennsylvania sourced income for all tax purposes, including PA-40 reporting, employer withholding and three-factor business income apportionment purposes for S Corporations, partnerships and individuals.

 

I suggest discussing your status with your employer as these cases are very facts and circumstance based. If they are comfortable classifying you as a DE employee you can either exclude your income from your PA return and possibly face an audit or include it and pay PA tax.

 

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