NY Source Income? - Covid WFH

[taxturtle]

I'm a Texas resident and work for a company there. When we went to working from home due to Covid-19, I went to NY to stay with my parents for sometime. I stayed there from end of August till the end of the year. Is the income I earned while working from my parents home considered NY source income? 

I'm finding a lot of info online for the situation when the employer's primary office is in New York and the employee is telecommuting from outside the state due to Covid, but nothing about my situation where the employer is in Texas and I telecommuted from NY while visiting my parents for a few month.

[AmyC]

Do not file NY return. You are a TX resident, TX company and you went to NY and took your work laptop with you. You did not change residency, did not move. Your income came from TX.

It does not matter if it was a one week vacation or three month vacation. You stayed a resident of TX with TX income.

[taxturtle]

Wouldn't i have to file a NY non resident tax return and pay taxes on the income i made for the services performed while being physically present in NY?

[LenaH]

No. You are not required to file a nonresident return since the primary work location and your office is located outside of New York State. 

Per the State of New York, days worked at home are considered New York work days only if the employee’s assigned or primary work location is at an established office or other bona fide place of business of the employer (a bona fide employer office) in New York State. If the employee’s assigned or primary work location is at an established office or other bona fide place of business of the employer outside New York State, then any normal work day worked at home would be treated as a day worked outside New York State.

For more information, please see Instructions for Form IT-203. 

@taxturtle

[taxturtle]

Since I'm a non-resident of NY, isnt the 'home' being referred to in the paragraph presumed to be my home in the state I'm resident of (texas)?

So obviously the days worked at my [texas] home will only be taxed in NY if the primary location of my employer is in NY. But in my situation I'm physically present inside NY when i performed the service (days worked inside NY).

Can i get clarity on where 'home' refers to in the document?

[JotikaT2]

Home refers to your domicile, or place you intend to return to.  It sounds like your trip to New York was not intended to be permanent in any way.  Unless you sold your home in Texas and showed your intent to permanently move to New York, your stay would be considered temporary.

1. You would be considered a resident for New York if your domicile is in New York or
2. If your domicile is not in New York but you maintain a permanent place of abode in New York state for more than 11 months and spend over 184 days in New York during the tax year.

 See the attached for more details on determining when you are considered a resident for New York.

New York residency details

New York taxes income on sources within New York.  If your employer is based out of New York, then yes, you would need to file a return in New York.  But based upon everything you have said, your employer is in Texas so your source of income is Texas.

As Texas does not have any state income tax filing requirements, you would not have any state taxes to file.