@jemwa Did you work in Massachusetts in 2020 before moving to New York?
Massachusetts put in place temporary pandemic rules from 10 March 2020 to 13 September 2021 saying nonresident employees who worked in Massachusetts before 10 March 2020 are still subject to Massachusetts tax until 13 September 2021. (There is a court challenge to this).
This may be why your employer withheld Massachusetts income tax. I suggest discussing this issue with your payroll department.
For more info see Expiration of the Emergency Pandemic Income Sourcing Rules for Non-Resident Employees. The two examples on the page are very helpful.
Why do you owe so much to Massachusetts?
It’s possible you owe so much to Massachusetts because your employer reported all your wages as Massachusetts income but stopped withholding MA income tax after 13 September so there was no withholding for the last part of the year.
You can file a nonresident Massachusetts return to show that some or all of your income was non-Massachusetts to reduce the amount due – or get some or all of your withholding back as a refund.
Preparing a nonresident return in TurboTax Online
You can select a State to prepare a non-resident Massachusetts return even if you did not tell TurboTax that you ‘earned’ income in another state.
- Select State in the left column
- Continue past Let’s get your state taxes done right
- Add Massachusetts as your state
- TurboTax will transfer your federal information
- On Confirm Your Massachusetts Residency, the screen should say Massachusetts Nonresident Tax Return. If not, Change Residency to Nonresident (Form 1 NR/PY).
