My PA-based employer withheld NJ FLI, NJ SDI and NJ SUI (I'm a NJ resident). Do I need to file to get a refund?

[jennanigans9]

The PA/NJ reciprocal agreement applies only to income tax - not these ancillary taxes.

My understanding is that since the employer is located in PA, they should have withheld these taxes for PA, because I am not eligible to receive these benefits from NJ.

If my understanding is correct, it would seem that I would need to get these withholdings back from NJ and pay PA.

How do I go about getting a refund and will I owe this money on my PA non-resident tax return?

[DianeW]

No.  It is not necessary to file to get any state withholding back from Pennsylvania (PA) because it was all paid to your resident state of New Jersey (NJ).  As a NJ resident you will file all taxable income, including your wages from a PA employer, on your NJ tax return.  

A tax return is not required to be filed for PA because there is a reciprocal agreement in place when it comes to wages.  If there is any other taxable income earned from PA sources (not wages) such as interest, dividends, rental income, or sale of property, as examples, only then would you file a PA return.

The information below will provide the definition of reciprocity/reciprocal states for tax purposes.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/replies/3299954

[jennanigans9]

So you are saying that FLI, SDI and SUI are all part of the reciprocal agreement?

[DianeW]

@jennanigans9  The indication is that all withholding amounts are for NJ.  Unless there is a refundable option on these particular taxes for any NJ employee they are not refundable (SUI/SDI/FLI).
If any of the state withholding such as unemployment tax, has a PA designation  it is a required withholding by a PA employer and is not refundable.
PA locality wage tax,if it was withheld, there could be a partial refund.  It varies by locality.  If you have this in addition to the above, contact the local taxing district.  The payroll department at your job should be able to help you. (Edited 2.02.2018)

[thrash]

This is wrong information. FLI/SDI/SUI are not part of the reciprocal agreement. The reciprocal agreement only applies to state income tax.

It is not clear what to do when an employer wrongly withholds this tax. Based on this NJ Division of Taxation link, your best bet would be to get your employer to request the reimbursement. I would do the same for paying the correct PA SUI tax that was supposed to have been withheld.

[jennanigans9]

@thrash I'm with you.  I think my employer needs to do the refunding for NJ and withholding for PA for SUI and SDI.  For the the FLI, it's actually included as a line item in the same box as my NJ tax withholdings on my W2.  So, I think I could include this as part of the NJ state taxes I paid.  It should result in an overpayment so I can get the refund (since I'm the one who paid this).  The SUI and SDI were paid by my employer, so I'm inclined to say this is their mistake to figure out and correct.

[DianeW]

@jennanigans9 The comment above explains that these taxes are not refundable, and not included as part of the state withholding on the state return(s).

[thrash]

There is both an employer and employee portion of the SUI/SDI. I really do think this matter has to be worked out by your employer. Here is the link to the UC-9 form (<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://lwd.dol.state.nj.us/labor/ea/content/eafaq.html#reqrefund">http://lwd.dol.state.nj.us/labor/e...>) which details how employers can be refunded erroneous payments and reimburse employees for their withholdings. Also ask that your employer pay PA SUI for the tax year as well. I would then ask that your employer furnish you a corrected W2.