Did you earn all of your wages in New Jersey

[Anonymous50]

I work for a company in New Jersey (Non-Tax Resident) but I live in New York City (Tax Resident). When I'm filling up the form for New Jersey, there is this question "Did you earn all of your wages in New Jersey?

I know there is the new "Convenience of the Employer" rule, but I am not sure how to apply in my scenario. My company's policy is to report to office 3 days a week. There are some "office days" where I will be in New Jersey, and some "office days" in New York City since the company has various locations throughout New York as well. And for some days, I will be working from home in New York City.

Should I answer "Yes", and put the entire amount as all earned in New Jersey?

[DianeW777]

No, you should not tax all wages to New Jersey (NJ).  Only wages earned when you are at your employer's office in NJ should be reported and taxed to NJ. 

Prepare the NJ return first, then your resident state.  All wages for the entire year are taxed to New York (NY) since this is your residency state.  The credit for taxes paid to another state on the same income is used on your resident state because they do not want you to pay taxes twice on the same income.  As the resident state all worldwide income must be included.

The credit for tax paid to another state on the same income will be the lesser of:

1. the tax liability actually charged by the nonresident state, OR
2. the tax liability that would have been charged by your resident state

NJ Convenience of Employer rules:

Who does the Convenience of the Employer Rule apply to?
The new law only applies to nonresident employees working for a New Jersey employer who are residents of states that also impose a similar test, such as Delaware, Nebraska, and New York. Note that this list may change accordingly based on the laws of different states. Under the new law, wages earned by residents of , Delaware, Nebraska, and New York working for a New Jersey employer and working from an out-of-state location (e.g. telecommuting from their resident state) are allocated to New Jersey, unless they are working remotely due to the necessity of the employer, rather than their own convenience.

[Anonymous50]

Thanks, in that case why is the guidance here says that I should not split the wages by days? I do think my situation fits the below description (this is the questionnaire when I’m filling up NJ state, not NY):

New Jersey imposes a convenience of the employer test for residents of states that impose a similar test. Under the convenience rule, a nonresident's wage/salary income from a New Jersey employer is taxable to New Jersey if they are working from an out-of-State location for their own convenience and not for the necessity of the employer.

In this case:
 - You must report the full amount of the New Jersey source wage/salary income
 - Do not split wages by days worked in New Jersey

@DianeW777 

[DMarkM1]

Typically, you would split by days worked in NJ except that NJ now says for NY residents the convenience of the employer rules apply. So basically it is as if you worked everyday in NJ.  All your wages for that employer would be taxable to NJ and and NY and you claim credit on your NY resident return to mitigate taxes paid to another state.  

To your original question, answer "Yes" all those wages were earned in NJ.