rjs
Level 15
Level 15

State tax filing

Your daughter won't necessarily get back all of the MA tax that was withheld. Income from working in MA is subject to MA income tax, even if the employee is not a MA resident. If she earned enough to have to pay MA tax, the tax that was withheld will be applied to the MA tax that she owes for the year, just like federal withholding is applied to her federal tax.

If she does have to pay MA tax, she will get a credit on her MD tax return for part or all of the tax that she pays to MA. She should prepare her MA nonresident return first, then her MD resident return, so the credit is calculated correctly.

If she uses TurboTax, she must indicate in the *federal* section that someone can claim her as a dependent. Taking a quick look at the MA tax return, it appears to me that for MA it doesn't matter that you claim her as a dependent. But if it does matter, TurboTax will take that indication from the federal information. You do not have to enter it separately for MA.