Maryland 2019 Part-year Residency Problem

[JohnBick]

Moved from NY to MD in 2019. Filed part year in NY and in MD. Realized there was a problem when, with similar 2020 income for a full year our 2020 taxes were 1/3 of our 2019 taxes. After having me divide the income and deductions when filling out NY forms TT correctly allocated 2/3 of the deductions (approx) to MD and 100% of the VERY minor W-2 income to NY (correctly). But 100% of the remaining income (pensions, SS, RMDs, dividends, etc.) were assigned to MD. Except for that W-2, our other NY income was not included on MD 502 line 12. Looking back I realize that the NY section asked the right questions, but MD did not. I ass-u-me-d that the NY answers covered it and missed out on an additional $2,800 refund. Being new to MD we did not know what to expect. Going to have to amend to get that back. (So much for "100% ACCURATE Calculations Guarantee".

If I missed something I'd like to know what/where. There should be coordination between the state allocations OR a specific prompt to provide that information.. I believe the same situation exists in the 2020 product (but I don't need it now) so I want to bring it to TT's attention to help others.

Have others run into this? What did I miss? HOW DO I ACTUALLY FIND A PHONE NUMBER TO CALL TO DISCUSS THIS? (I have spent over two hours trying to find the TT Advantage help phone number. It's overly protected in the system!!!!)

[ErnieS0]

It would be wonderful if all the state programs worked together. Unfortunately, this is too complex an issue. States have separate tax systems. What’s income in one state may be exempt in another.

For example, not all states tax unemployment benefits. 

States also use different systems to compute tax. Some states tax you on the actual income you report to that state, others use a ratio system where your tax is the percentage of total income ÷ total income. Still other states subtract non-state income.

The best practice is to write down how much income you are allocating to each state and make sure the totals match (after adjusting for state differences).

You can get help on the contact page.

[JohnBick]

While this answers the question (in it's own way) I still find it ridiculous that this is very much hidden in MD (while very obvious in NY). Evidently I missed something in the MD "interview" and, frankly, I am still unable to find it when I go back to make the needed changes. There should be a MD worksheet for this, even if MD does not actually publish one. AND THERE SHOULD BE A VERY OBVIOUS ENTRY POINT TO THIS IN THE MD INTERVIEW that is easily located when one is going back manually. I had to correct the TT entry on MD 502 Line 12 to proceed. Automatically transferring the data may be too difficult but leading the user thru the steps to make it correct is what I thought I was paying for.

When the MD Review is performed it should be flagged to the user if there are no entries. This was a situation with an easy test, simply checking if the non-W2 data in MD was different that the MD data. It was the same as the Federal data. Should have been flagged.

After being with TT from the very beginning (remember the floppy disks?) I expected more and certainly did not get it.

HOW DO I FLAG THIS TO TT MANAGEMENT?

While I continue to recommend TT, I am more reserved now for part-time residents, especially MD. (NY is fine.) The one person I recommended TT to this week (another former NY resident) took my reservations to heart and got a competitive product. His data transferred as expected, with flags and links to check against the MD rules. In his case no changes were required. Fortunately I do not expect to move from NY to MD again.

[ThomasM125]

In the Maryland tax return section in TurboTax, there is an option for a credit for taxes paid to another state. When you go through that routine it will deduct from your Maryland tax the tax you paid to New York, so you don't get double taxed:

[JohnBick]

ThomasM125:

You should go back and read the original post, THEN the follow-ups. Not paying taxes on NY taxes is not at all the issue. Not only is that handled properly, it is VERY obvious in the menu you displayed.

The issue is identifying the INCOME that NY taxed while a non-resident of MD and including that on line 12 of the MD return. AND the secondary issue of where/how to account for that in the TT steps for MD. There is major room for improvement there, EVEN IF the only step is an addition to that menu for part-year residents that says "figure it out for yourself and enter it here." (But TT can definitely do a lot better than that.)

[JohnBick]

Thomasm125: If you wish to discuss this I am open to a phone call. Let me know how to connect with you.