Paid NY State Taxes but lived in NJ - Remote Employee, confused.

[remsta]

Hi there,

So I am going to try and make this as simple as possible but I am currently struggling to work this out. 

Myself:

From January to October 2020, I was a Remote NY employee, living and working in NY. In November I moved to NJ and was meant to become an NJ Remote employee; however, this did not go through correctly. My employer updated my address but I did not update my work location or W4, so whilst I lived in NJ I was still being taxed NY State Taxes. In March 2021, my employer fixed this and now I am being paid as an NJ employee and taxed only in NJ and not NY (This is what it should have been in Nov & Dec). 

So now I have a W2 that shows a NY Salary of $x and NJ Salary of $x. But under taxes, it has NY $x but NJ $0. 

So here is my question, if I file as "I did not live in NY for Nov & December but got paid a NY Salary" is that the same as if I file "I did not live in NY for Nov & Dec and got paid an NJ Salary"? Because essentially, I was meant to be paid an NJ salary in Nov & Dec but because the office screwed up I got paid a NY Salary. 

My Wife:

The same situation moved from NY to NJ and lived in NJ for Nov and Dec but the difference with her is, she is still classified as a NY Employee, even today. So therefore she gets a NY Salary but lives in NJ. 

Thank you

[ErnieS0]

New York taxes remote employers who live in another state but whose assigned home office is New York. And they have an aggressive audit program aimed at telecommuters who claim they are exempt from New York tax.

That said, if your employer agrees that you were a New Jersey employee not subject to NY withholding from November, then you can file a part-year New York and part-year New Jersey income tax return, i.e. "I did not live in NY for Nov & Dec and got paid an NJ Salary.”

New York

New York requires employers to report in Box 16 (state wages), income earned everywhere so on your NY return you will have to allocate the amount earned from January to October either by days or by percentage.

1. On New York Income Allocation, says NO to “Were all of your wages and/or your self-employment income earned in New York State?”
2. Edit your W-2 on Your Form W-2 Summary
3. Choose your Allocate method on Allocate Wages to New York
4. On Tell us about your New York resident income, enter the amount of you and your wife’s W-2 income that was earned while living in New York
5. On Tell us about your New York nonresident income, enter the amount of your wife’s NY income earned while she lived in NJ.

New Jersey

Enter the amount of your incomes on your NJ return that you earned while living in NJ.

You can claim a tax credit on the NJ return for the portion of your wife’s income tax was taxed by NY while she lived in NJ. You will have to manually compute the income and NY tax.