Some Ohio Cities have an income tax. Any Ohio city, with an
income tax, is allowed to have withholding taken out of your pay while you
worked in that city. Your employer is required to do that withholding. You
can't get a refund unless it was improperly withheld, i.e. you didn't actually work
there for all or part of the time that your employer was withholding. If
you live in a city with an income tax, you are subject to that city's tax as
well. But, your residence city will usually give you a credit or partial credit for the withholding paid to the work city.
You normally only have to
file a return in the city you live in. It is not necessary to file one in the
city you work in.
There are 2 state wide agencies that help Ohio
Cities collect City Income taxes. One is CCA (Central Collection Agency) and
the other, larger one, is RITA (Regional Income Tax Agency). There is a pull
down list of cities, in Turbo Tax(TT), for both City Tax Forms (CCA) & RITA. These are the only Ohio cities that TurboTax (TT) can prepare.
But many Ohio cities use neither agency. These cities
design their own forms and require you to use them. You can get paper copies from the individual
city. Most are available at the city’s web site. Many cities will prepare the
tax return for you, but you have to go to city hall in person. Some may have on
line filing (try the city web site). Although they won't usually admit it, some
will even accept CCA forms. So you could try filling out a CCA form on TurboTax
and mailing it to your city; but I actually find it
easier to fill out a city return by hand or at
the city, CCA or RITA web site, than to use TT. Things don't
happen automatically and you need to know what you’re doing. The actual RITA/city forms are easier to follow than the
TT interview.
TT cannot e-file an Ohio City or RITA return. It must be printed
and mailed.
