Can I take 7/12ths of the allowable sales tax deduction on my Federal return? Lived 5 months in MD & paid state inc tax.

[hpbenn]

The change, on June 1st, was a change of domicile. I was a voting citizen of Maryland

[hpbenn · Accepted solution]

Patricia's answer didn't help me, but is a very good explanation for those wishing to split state sales taxes between states. Mine was of mixing one state's income tax with another state's sales tax. The answer has repeatedly been 'no' but no one has explained why to what otherwise appears to be common sense: reside in one state,one set of rules; reside in another, another set of rules and then just pro-rate the year.

I did get an explanation today, outside this forum. It is more than plausible that a resident of a non-income tax state, e.g., FL, would be earning wages in another state and having those wages taxed in that different state. Example: a Jacksonville, FL resident works in Chicago, IL 3 days/week (long commute) and thus pays IL non-resident income tax. His Federal return can't reflect the mix of IL's [non-resident] income tax and FL's sales tax. As there is no way to distinguish that person from someone who moves mid-year from one type of state to another -- they could have changed residences, but not jobs -- and to stay in compliance with the tax code, the rule is one or the other in a given year.

[PatriciaV]

Actually, you may set up different sales tax rates for each state where you lived and different periods of the year.

On the "Places You Lived" page, set up a separate line entry for each sales tax rate (click on screenshot below). Since you moved to a different state, enter each state, the dates you resided there, and the total state and local sales tax rates..

The easiest way to find this section of TurboTax is to open your return and search on "sales tax deduction", then click on the "jump to" link to go directly to the start of this topic.

Note: You have the option of deducting either Sales Tax or State/Local Income Tax. You cannot deduct both. TurboTax will help determine which is better for your tax situation. See this post for more info: Should I Deduct Sales Taxes or State Income Taxes?

[revised 3/30/17]