If your income originates from MT but you live in a different state, you will need to determine if your states are reciprocal states or not. Here is an FAQ to help with that determination: https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1899178-what-is-a-state-reciprocal-agreement
- You will always file a resident tax return in the state in which you live. Your resident state taxes all of your income regardless of where you earn it. What you do with the other state depends on whether they are reciprocal or not.
- If the two states are not reciprocal, then you file a nonresident return for that state. Your resident state will give you a credit for the tax you must pay to the state in which you are working so that you are not over-taxed, but otherwise both states are taxing you.
Once you've determined that you need to file a nonresident state return, the first thing you want to do is make sure you've filled out the Personal Info section correctly:
- With your return open, select My Info in the left-hand menu.
- Then, on the Personal info summary screen, scroll down to Other State Income, and select Edit.
- At the Did you make money in any other states? question, answer Yes and make sure your nonresident state(s) are selected from the drop-down.
- Select Continue to return to your Personal info summary.
After you finish your federal return, you'll automatically move to the State tab, where you'll see your nonresident state(s) listed in addition to your resident state.
To ensure accurate calculations, we strongly recommend preparing your nonresident state return before you prepare any resident or part-year state returns. More tips:
- Select the long form (if the option is available) even if TurboTax defaults to the short form.
- Only report the income attributable to the nonresident state.
- If preparing a nonresident return solely to recover erroneous tax withholdings, enter 0 on the screen that asks for the amount of income earned in that state. This will eliminate your tax liability for that state, resulting in a full refund.
- If you live in a reciprocal state, consider submitting an exemption form to your employer so you don't have to file a nonresident return next year.
