I took an Ohio PERS refund in 2109. contributing employment is from 2018 and before. I took refund as a PA resident. Do I pay state tax on refund amount in OH/PA/Both?

[KathrynG3]

It depends on whether you will pay tax on your refund. But, the Ohio PERS Refund distribution would not necessarily impact the refund.

Enter your state refund as received if asked. If you are continuing with TurboTax from a prior year and you are entering details in the account with the same Username and password, TurboTax will handle the taxability of your state refund. 

It depends if you took the standard deduction or the itemized deduction. Only if you itemized your deductions, will the refund be reported as taxable on the federal return.

Most states begin with Federal Adjusted Gross Income. Therefore, the taxable portion of the refund, if applicable, will be captured.

Please see this Ohio PERS website regarding the taxability of your refund. You may be subject to tax if you did roll it over to another qualified retirement plan. The tax charged is based on where you lived when you received the distribution. 

If you moved in 2019, you will need to file two state tax returns. 

[akrclevheights]

To provide some clarity:

I moved to PA on 1/1/2019 - having moved 3 times in 2016, I planned my move to reduce the number of tax returns I would have to complete.

When I received the refund, I opted to have OPERS withhold $377 (10% of the taxable amount) and this withholding is reflected on my 1099-R.

I take the standard deduction every year.

I guess my confusion remains as such: since this was a pension sourced from income earned in Ohio, would I owe that state tax or is that a moot point given that I resided in PA for the entirety of 2019.

Thanks for you help. 

[AmyC]

If you rolled your Ohio Pers into another qualified retirement plan, no tax.

If you did not roll it, you would need to file an OH return and then claim credit against the income on your PA return. If it were pure wages, you would not need to file the OH return. But alas, it is not wages, just wage based.

[akrclevheights]

Called OH, they said my OPERS followed me to PA, and that I owed no tax to Ohio. In PA, according to their department of internal revenue, I did owe tax. If I were over 59 1/2, it wouldn’t be tax-exempt. PA is one of two states in the US that doesn’t tax pension income. Is this true? 

[MaryK4]

Yes, your pension is excluded as income but you are still required to file a tax return for Pennsylvania.

@akrclevheights