That's the simplest, yes. "Technically speaking", KY should be taxing all of your income as a nonresident. (I'm going to try to not lose you here, so feel free to ask any question) While you were living in Virginia, you paid tax only in Virginia if you daily commuted to Kentucky because of the reciprocal agreement between the two states. However, usually reciprocal agreements only are valid with full-year residents. Therefore the "correct" way to file is to prepare the KY return first with all income being taxed to KY, and then claim a credit against VA and NC respectively. Doing it this way would give you a larger Virginia refund, a likely KY amount due, and probably less owed (if anything) to NC. But, it isn't the easiest calculation to do.
However, the wording in the KY-VA reciprocal agreement does not seem to disqualify a part-year return. This website has additional information on this: https://tax.virginia.gov/reciprocity. Because of this, I think what you are proposing makes sense and will be simpler to do in your case. Get the KY refund to pay the NC amount due. Even though you file now, you will have until April 15th to pay the amount that's due to NC.
Please provide detail on the three states, and the wrong state. We'll be happy to help with this information. (Situations vary depending on the states).
Thank you. Moved from VA to NC. Work in KY. Had proper VA state withholding but after move, employer started withholding KY state and not NC state. KY state return looks like it will refund entire amount. NC will credit for amount, but I don't want to do both. Need to pay NC, and it asked for KY filing to be included.
Your situation is complicated. Did you work in KY all year?
Yes. And yes. 🙂
I am thinking the best option is remove the credit from NC, which drives me owning them 3 months worth of state taxes. And count on KY refunding me the 3 months they were paid unnecessarily. It means I am out of pocket until KY refund...
That's the simplest, yes. "Technically speaking", KY should be taxing all of your income as a nonresident. (I'm going to try to not lose you here, so feel free to ask any question) While you were living in Virginia, you paid tax only in Virginia if you daily commuted to Kentucky because of the reciprocal agreement between the two states. However, usually reciprocal agreements only are valid with full-year residents. Therefore the "correct" way to file is to prepare the KY return first with all income being taxed to KY, and then claim a credit against VA and NC respectively. Doing it this way would give you a larger Virginia refund, a likely KY amount due, and probably less owed (if anything) to NC. But, it isn't the easiest calculation to do.
However, the wording in the KY-VA reciprocal agreement does not seem to disqualify a part-year return. This website has additional information on this: https://tax.virginia.gov/reciprocity. Because of this, I think what you are proposing makes sense and will be simpler to do in your case. Get the KY refund to pay the NC amount due. Even though you file now, you will have until April 15th to pay the amount that's due to NC.