Moved From New Jersey to Pennsylvania In September

[shizzle44]

I moved from New Jersey to Pennsylvania at the end of August.  I notified the HR department of my employer but HR never notified the payroll department about the change of address.  I got my 2023 W2 and it shows 12 months of NJ State tax withheld, not 8 months of New Jersey and 4 months of Pennsylvania.  My employer is telling me that I need to file a part year return for NJ State and get a refund for the tax withheld from September to December.  Conversely, I need to file a PA State tax return to report the wages and tax owed from September to December.  They say I should get a refund from NJ State and would owe to PA State.

Does this sound correct?  Do I need to get a corrected W2 from them?

[Vanessa A]

Yes, they are correct.  

No, you cannot get a corrected W-2 since they actually withheld and made ALL of the payments to NJ and nothing to PA.  

So you will need to file a NJ return and allocate your income based on the time you lived in NJ and file the PA return and allocate your income based on the time you lived in PA.  You will end up having to pay PA since they did not withhold for PA. But you will get a refund of NJ.

[shizzle44]

Thanks very much for your help!

[shizzle44]

Sorry, one more follow up question on this issue.  Below is an message I received from my local tax preparer on my predicament.

"The issue that I have is that the employer reported all of the 2023 wages to NJ as taxable in NJ, there is no vehicle in the NJ return to allocate those wages to PA, so NJ is going to tax the entire years salary.  I was hoping that your employer would issue a corrected W2 that properly reports wages earned while living in NJ to NJ and wages earned while living in PA to PA.  The amendment has nothing to do with the withholding as those amounts are paid to NJ as reported.”

Any additional insight in to his question about the corrected W2 would be appreciated."

[TomK2023]

You do not need a corrected W2.

In most cases, if you live in state that has income tax, you will get a credit on your tax return for the state you live in  (PA) for part or all of the tax that you pay to the other state (NJ).

If you were a resident of two different states during the tax year (for example, if you moved from one state to another), you'll normally file part-year returns in both states, assuming each state collects income tax and you had income in each state.

TurboTax handles part-year returns, but you need to make sure you've set up your personal information correctly for us to do so. We'll ask about where you lived in 2023 when you set up your personal information.

If you need to add this information after you've begun your return:

Note: If your TurboTax navigation looks different than what’s described here, learn more.

1. Sign in to TurboTax and select My Info.
2. A Your personal info screen appears.
3. Question number 2 asks you the state(s) you lived in during 2023. Select your state of residence from a dropdown menu (Pennsylvania).
4. You'll also be asked if you lived in another state in 2023. Answer Yes and a new section will appear asking for your previous state of residence. Select the other state you lived in (New Jersey).
5. Fill out the date of when you moved to your current state (Pennsylvania).
6. If the rest of your information is accurate, select Continue.

After you finish entering your federal return info, you'll automatically move to the State Taxes section, where you'll see your part-year states listed. We suggest you prepare the return for your former state first, followed by the return for the state you currently live in.