State tax filing

Allocate all your unemployment benefits to New York. Unemployment compensation that is part of your federal adjusted gross income and derived or resulting from employment in New York State is taxable to a nonresident.

I‘m assuming when you say “company based in New York State” you mean you received unemployment as a result of previously working in or telecommuting for a company where your office was considered to be “New York.

It is not surprising you would owe NY tax on your employment because no state tax was withheld.

Your spouse’s income is included on the NY nonresident return. NY includes all income to compute a base tax rate and then calculates NY tax for part-year and nonresidents by prorating the total tax by the ratio of NY income to total income. This produces a higher tax rate, because the rate is based on your total income and not just your NY income.