NYS non resident W2 question

[bill the cat]

So, resident of Vermont with New York State income while in college. As explained by New York State, W2 no longer separates state income and just uses the total Federal amount in box 16 of the W2. The instructions state "Enter all the income included in the Federal amount column that you received from New York State sources." But, if the income on the W2 is not delineated as to which state it was from, how am I to determine what income was from New York State sources?

[MaryK4]

The New York state income is the income you earned while working in New York.

[bill the cat]

That's kind of obvious but not the question that I asked.

Since the amount in Box 16 for NY is the same as the amount in the Federal Box 1 (as expected) and is also the same as Box 16 for VT, where is the breakdown for what was earned in NY and what was earned in VT?

Is that more clear?

[MaryK4]

There is no breakdown for what is earned in Vermont or New York on the W2.  If you do not know, you can ask your employer but unfortunately, because of the state requirement of what is reported on the W2, the answer is not available from the W2.

@bill the cat

[bill the cat]

Unfortunately, there would be no way for me to know. Pay stubs are useless as there are pay periods where part of the pay period is in one state and part in the other. It seems that it is only New York state that chooses to not break this down on the W2, but requires that breakdown in order to file a tax return ... how stupid is that. I'm not quite sure why the Vermont-labeled W2 doesn't have the Vermont income. Given that the W2 is from a large corporation, there is nobody to ask.

[Hal_Al]

Normally the answer is: you have to determine that from your own records/memory.  But since it's NY, the answer is easier: it's all NY income, because it's a NY based company, regardless of where you actually worked. 

As a VT resident, you will report all your income on your VT return and claim a credit for the tax you paid to NY

[bill the cat]

Not a New York State company ... a chain with locations in both states. So, working in NY while in college and VT while home. So, it is NOT all NY income in any manner, way, shape or form. Even on the non-resident form, I'm asked to enter the full (federal) income and the income earned in New York state.

[Hal_Al · Accepted solution]

The answer is: you have to determine that from your own records/memory and/or wild guess.

It basically doesn't matter, as  you must report all your income on your VT return and will get a credit, or partial credit,  for the tax you pay to NY.  

In TT, do the NY return first.

[bill the cat]

yeah ... that's where i got to also. difficult to do as the pay stubs aren't always properly indicating which state the work was done in so had to resort to the calendar to determine when was at home and when was at college. of course, we have biweekly checks and sometimes one week was in VT and one was in NY ... what a PITA! was ultimately more concerned with the NY return as the VT return (as you suggested) just gets everything.

thanks for recommending that the NY return be done first ... i would have done the resident (VT) state first and probably messed everything up!

thanks for the working through this with me ... the back and forth ruling out non-answers as you built more background was invaluable.