CA taxes paid but remote work in NJ

[spdrcr05]

I lived and worked in CA for part of the year and remotely in NJ for the other part. Total number of days favors NJ. How do I file my state taxes?  

[TomD8]

In which state is your "domicile" - your main, permanent home?

[spdrcr05]

Hi Tom,

It will be NJ but it wasn't supposed to be that way.  All my taxes were withheld by CA but I spent more time working in NJ and that was was domicile state last year as well.  So I started with TT NJ and it just didn't seem to be asking the right questions.  

THanks!

[TomD8]

If NJ was your domiciliary state for all of 2020, you will file a resident NJ tax return and a non-resident CA tax return.

Assuming you were a W-2 employee and not an independent contractor, CA can only tax the income you earned from work actually (physically) performed in CA.  Your domiciliary state of NJ can tax all your income, including your earnings from CA.

On your NJ return, you'll be able to claim a credit for taxes paid to your non-resident state of CA - so you won't be double-taxed.

In TurboTax, complete the non-resident CA tax return first, before the NJ return, so that the program can calculate and apply the credit correctly.

[spdrcr05]

Thanks Tom.  How do I address if CA withheld all of my taxes as if I was a CA resident?

[TomD8]

Enter your W-2 as is.  On your non-resident CA return, allocate to CA the income you earned by physically working in CA.  CA will refund you any excess taxes withheld.

[spdrcr05]

So I do the allocation manually based on number of days worked?

[TomD8]

Yes, you can use the "days worked" allocation method if your income stayed pretty much the same all year.