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I live in PA and work in NJ. Why is TurboTax taking out NJ taxes?

Due to the NJ/PA reciprocal income tax agreement, I understand that I do not have to pay income tax to NJ if I live in PA. On my W-2 I only pay tax to PA. Why then does TurboTax believe I owe NJ?
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1 Reply
DS30
New Member

I live in PA and work in NJ. Why is TurboTax taking out NJ taxes?

Just make sure that you are letting the TurboTax system know you will not have an NJ state income tax return filing.

You will only need to file a PA resident state income tax return to report all income (including your NJ-source wages). You will not have to file an NJ nonresident state income tax return (unless you had NJ withholdings (see below)).

As you mentioned NJ and PA have what is called a state reciprocal agreement. This allows nonresidents to not have state withholding taxes taken out for wages earned in the state.

Since you will not have an NJ state income tax filing, just check that you selected "no" to " Did you make money in any other states?" under the Personal Information section in TurboTax (see screenshots)

You can get rid of a state without clearing your federal return by just deleting the state from your list of states under the "State Taxes" tab.

Please note that you will not have a delete option until you actually start working on the state. Select that you want to start the state return under the state taxes tab. The system will start calculating. Then go back into the state tab at the top of the screen and you should now get a choice for that state to either continue or delete. You won't be charged for just starting the state return. You would only be charged (if applicable) when you are getting ready to file.

In order to get the full refund of your NJ state income tax withholdings, you will need to file a nonresident NJ return but report zero "0" income from NJ (even though you do have NJ wage income). You need to file your NJ return this way because PA does not allow a credit for tax paid to a reciprocal state on wages, salaries and commissions. If tax was withheld by a reciprocal state (NJ), you must file directly with the state for a refund of those taxes. You must mail in this PA nonresident state income tax return and include your state W-2 information. You will want to include an explanatory statement with your NJ return stating your situation (that your NJ employer withheld NJ taxes from your wages in error due to a reciprocal agreement with PA).


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