Moved to MA July 1 2020 from GA

[jyjohnson]

Hi - my daughter has been employed by a company based in MA since 2019. Through June 2020 her residence was GA. In July 2020 she moved to MA (signed an appt lease with a friend). Her 2020 W-2 only shows GA. I have purchased both GA and MA State. Her 2020 income is a little over $50k. Since she moved in July, I'm thinking Jan - June should be taxed by GA and July - Dec. taxed by MA. However, GA shows a large refund (b/c I set the dates to Jan - June, and allocated half of the salary to GA and the other half to MA) but MA shows no tax due. How can that be? Also, I've read that MA allows moving expense and apartment rent deductions. The rental deduction looks tricky - can can she claim that as MA is her primary/only residence now but the first half of the year her official residence was GA? 

[ErnieS0 · Accepted solution]

Yes. She can claim a Massachusetts rental deduction if her move to MA was permanent (even if she is staying with a friend). Your daughter will only claim her share of rent paid. The same with her friend.

MA also allows a moving expense deduction for transportation of household goods and personal effects and travel (including lodging but not meals) to the new residence.

The Georgia income tax return will show a large refund because your daughter’s employer continued to withhold GA tax after she had moved to MA.

The MA tax return should show a balance due because she worked for half a year in MA and had no MA tax withheld. What probably happened was that TurboTax did not pick up any MA income since the state code on the W-2 was GA.

TurboTax will ask you to split MA and GA income on the screen Non-Massachusetts Portion of Income. TurboTax will then calculate Income Earned While Not a Resident. You will also have to deduct the portion of Social Security and Medicare tax withheld while your daughter was living in GA on Non-Massachusetts Portion of Deductions.

The renter’s deduction is on Additional Massachusetts Deductions.

Enter moving deductions in Deductions & Credits and it will move over to the MA return.

Related Resources

• Deductions on Rent Paid in Massachusetts
• Moving Expense Deduction