Can turbotax allocate wages when I worked in NJ but lived in NY for 85% of year and PA 15% of year?

[jdmcr3]

I have W2 from the employer for NJ, NY and PA with different state earnings  Also, for my wifes income which was all from a NY company and earned while we lived in NY how do I handle that in  turbotax

[DanielV01 · Accepted solution]

Yes, TurboTax can allocate the wages.  If they are reported correctly on the W-2s,  they should get apportioned automatically (although you may have some manually entries to make sure income is not double-included for NJ and PA).  First, the basics:

Start with the New Jersey return.  New Jersey was your nonresident state, and it is recommended to begin there.  Your income for NJ likely is limited to the portion of income you earned in New Jersey while living in New York only.  This is because NJ and PA have a reciprocal agreement, so once you moved to PA, the company would have stopped withholding to NJ and started withholding to PA.  If this is what your W-2 reflects (and the box 16 next to NJ in box 15 is less than box 1 on the W-2), then I don't think you will need to manually apportion anything for NJ.  However, click on other states in Screenshot 1 below, and make sure that any amounts reported to NY and PA are excluded for the NY return.  Reporting and programming requirements will otherwise double-include the amounts, so it is important to make sure non-NJ income is excluded.

Proceed to the New York return.  You are filing a part-year return for NY.  However, if your wife worked in NY after you moved to PA, then the portion of income earned in NY after the move continues to be taxed as NY nonresident income.  There will be a question on the NY return asking what is the NY nonresident income.  It would be the amount she earned in NY after moving to PA. This income is also double-taxed between NY and PA.  PA will issue a credit for the income being taxed in NY after you moved to PA.  NY will also issue you a credit for the amount of tax you are paying to NJ for the income you earned in NJ before moving to PA.  If all of the figures on your W-2s are correct, you don't need to enter anything on the allocation method screens, because all of your reported NY income is correctly being taxed in New York.

Finally, complete the PA part-year return.  You may need a manually entry to reflect the amount your wife earned in NY after moving to PA.  Otherwise, the only income should be the amount earned in NJ after moving to PA, which apparently was adjusted by your employer.  However, check the PA W-2 screens also to make sure that double-reported income (income amounts reported to other states besides PA), are also excluded from the return to avoid excessive taxation).  Please see the other screenshots as well.

Here are the screenshots to assist you from the NJ and PA tax return programs in TurboTax: